Trump regretted not declassifying retained military document in recording (The Guardian)

[Nevilledog]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/31/donald-trump-classified-military-document-recording-iran

No paywall
https://archive.is/DWidf


Federal prosecutors obtained audio recording of a summer 2021 meeting where Donald Trump suggested he should have declassified a military document about Iran he admitted retaining, according to people familiar with the criminal investigation into his retention of national security papers.

The document at issue is understood to be classified as “secret” – significant as the justice department typically prefers to charge espionage cases involving retention of materials at that level, rather than “top secret” papers that might be too sensitive or “confidential” papers that are too low.

The recording was made at Trump’s Bedminster golf club in July 2021, when the former president met with people helping his former chief of staff Mark Meadows write a book, by his aide Margo Martin who regularly taped conversations with authors to ensure they accurately recounted his remarks.

For several minutes of the audio recording, the sources said, Trump talks about how he cannot discuss the document because he no longer possesses the sweeping presidential power to declassify now out of office, but suggests that he should have done so when he was still in the White House.

But the previously unreported suggestion that he should have declassified the document presents a potentially perilous moment, as it indicates Trump knew that he had retained material which remained sensitive to national security – as well as the limitations on discussing it with unauthorized people. CNN earlier reported that prosecutors had the recording.

*snip*

[Kablooie]

2. So if he HAD declassified a bunch of critical, top secret documents before leaving...

would it have been legal for him to retain them and later sell them to the highest bidder?

Sure on the surface it seems it would have been illegal but are there actual laws to cover this?
If not there's probably nothing the DOJ could have done.

[Nevilledog]

3. That's espionage.

Classification doesn't matter. It was national defense information.

[tanyev]

4. Was this before or after he formulated his doctrine of declassifying just by thinking about them?

And by "formulated his doctrine", I of course mean "pulled it out of his ass".