Politico notes that the appeals panel hearing our case had deep reservations about the government’s arguments, with Judge Patricia Millett asking: “Can the president then offer on eBay to sell them, all of our national security secrets, to the highest bidder?”

The government’s response was, in short, “yes.”

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[–] 3 points 4 days ago (2 children)

People don't get this but the entire classification system is done under the authority of the president. Legally, the president alone decides what is and isn't classified. Of course one person can't do that so he delegates that authority to thousands of people under him. But it's literally impossible for the president to mishandle classified information because he's the sole authority on it. If he goes on TV and start spilling Top Secret info, that just means he has decided to unclassify that info and that's his right and no one can do anything to stop him.

It's just... never been a issue before.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 day ago

    Wow that’s wrong. Yes he can declassify documents. You can’t sell secrets.

    See when you declassify something it no longer has value as a secret because everyone has access.

    So what trump did before and plans to do now is take classified files and sell them while they are still classified.

    That’s illegal. He can declassify stuff, but you have to actually say it declassified.

    You can’t keep it classified and say “well I have the power to declassify things”

    I have the power to drive the correct speed in the school zone. That doesn’t mean all speeds I drive are therefore legal.

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