Random Thoughts – Randocity!

Biden is currently the sitting President of the United States. Let’s make this perfectly clear right from the go. Does a President of the United States have legitimate access to be in possession of classified documents? Yes, but let’s explore.

Republican Agenda

Ever since the Department of Justice (DOJ) has begun investigating Donald Trump for a number of alleged wrongdoings, the Republicans have treated Biden as if he is in the wrong. While the DOJ does operate as part of the Federal Government, it is an autonomous entity not under direct control of the White House. While the White House, or more specifically President Joe Biden, can agree or disagree with the DOJ’s handling of matters, his opinion is not relevant to that department’s investigations.

Let me even clarify the heading of this section. The ‘Republican Agenda’ specifically refers to the MAGA Republican agenda, a small sect of the overall Republican party that is extreme in all aspects and is willing to take their agendas to extremes. These specific Republicans are unwilling to compromise, hold firm on conspiratorial ideals, wish for the government to topple and are doing their level best to instigate a civil war. This began under Donald Trump. Like the other MAGA Republicans, Trump also holds unrealistic and extreme points of view; points of view that are dangerous to Democracy and, frankly, to the rest of the world.

These MAGA extremist points of view may ultimately be the undoing of not only American Democracy, but unravel America itself. Meaning, the United States Government may be on the verge of disappearing if MAGA get their way… and with it, not just America, but the economies around the rest of the world. In other words, America’s economy is so intertwined with the rest of the world economies, if America falls, so will many other countries, likely including China and Russia. MAGA Republicans are playing with fire.

Mainstream Media

Unfortunately, mainstream media is helping this MAGA agenda along by pushing stories that further these MAGA narratives; narratives that only serve to undermine Democracy, but also undermines all of the foundational democratic institutional glue of the United States Democracy including the judicial system, the executive branch and the legislative branch. There is no branch of the US government that is not currently under internal siege by these MAGA extremists.

Mainstream media is making this situation worse by perpetuating and perpetrating fraudulent stories on the unsuspecting public (Democrat, Republican or Independent).

Stupidity Runs Rampant

One thing that’s become abundantly clear is that stupidity is running rampant throughout far too many MAGA Republicans. Yes, even from people who’ve been elected to government positions. These people have demonstrated they are severely under-educated and do not possess the cognitive or critical thinking skills to understand fact from fiction from fabrication. These are people who that when told something by someone even slightly trustworthy (to them), they believe every single word as though it were written as gospel in the Bible.

Mainstream media is taking full and complete advantage of this fact and are now writing not only extreme propaganda articles, they’re writing the absolute worst form of tabloid garbage. Case in point. Dailymail writes this entirely propagandistic article: THIRD batch of files found at Joe Biden’s Delaware home.

By ‘files’, this article means “classified documents.”

Presidential Power and Classified Documents

As the duties and powers confer to the duly elected President of the United States, that elected individual is given absolute clearance over the documents presented to him and created by him. This means that as President and while remaining the sitting President, that President inherits all clearance levels needed to perform and execute his or her duties as President of the United States.

This clearance level includes possession of and creation of classified documents at any level needed to perform those duties.

It also means that wherever the President chooses to work, classified documents are likely to be present, either previously created by someone else or, indeed, created BY the President of the United States himself as part of his job responsibilities. Having this clearance level is entirely part of being President of the United States.

Possession of Classified Documents as a Crime

To circle back around to that insanely stupid Dailymail article, it attempts to insinuate that Biden somehow should not be in possession of said documents. The President needs to be in possession of whatever classified documents allow him to perform and execute his responsibility as President of the United States. There is no crime here. Biden is not a criminal for being in possession of such classified documents.

Let’s liken this situation to Donald Trump. After Biden was sworn into office as President of the United States, Donald Trump became an Ex-President or if you prefer, a former president. As a former president, each former President gives up their role as sitting President including giving up access to various classified top secret documents.

Donald Trump was found to have been in possession of said documents at his Mar-A-Lago residence. However, the stark difference between Biden and Trump is that Biden is STILL the sitting President of the United States and still possesses the rights to own, hold, read and manage classified documents. Ex-President Trump, on the other hand, no longer holds the right to own, hold, read or manage such classified documents.

Questions without Answers

The question surrounding Trump is whether the documents were duly and properly declassified prior to those documents landing at Mar-A-Lago. As an Ex-President, Trump no longer holds the power to declassify such documents after leaving office. Biden, as President of the United States, still holds the power to declassify any document he chooses.

Thus, any such rousting by the Dailymail to make it appear as if Biden is somehow in the wrong or has performed a crime, there’s a simple Presidential fix. Biden, as President of the United States, can immediately and instantly declassify any and all such documents in question, leaving the people trying to make Biden look bad standing firmly with egg plastered on their faces. The President can nullify any such alleged criminal situations.

Biden being in possession of classified documents is not only NOT a crime for Biden, it’s actually part of his responsibility as President of the United States. As I said, stupidity reigns supreme with the MAGA Republicans.

Smart or Not?

The question comes down to NOT whether Biden’s possession of such documents was (or is) illegal, but whether it was a smart idea to leave them in his Delaware home. That’s the only situation that has any problems for the Government. Biden firmly has every right to BE in possession of those documents. The problem is only if those classified documents remain in the home unsecured when Biden is not actively there.

No, it’s probably not the smartest of ideas to leave such documents unattended. So long as there is sufficient security at the home to protect that home from intruders, and one would hope that as a sitting President, his home would be not only duly protected by active armed security forces, it would be outfit with an active security system. Even then, so long as the documents were placed into a properly secured safe or other such similar and nearly impenetrable storage unit, then the documents are considered properly secured even at his Delaware residence.

If someone who accessed Biden’s premises managed to gain access to such documents and read them, the illegal activity is actually on the people who found and read the documents. It is illegal for those people searching for them to be reading those documents, not Biden. Meaning, it is THEY who should be arrested for reading Biden’s classified documents.

Biden’s Desk

It gets worse. Any document that Biden writes while sitting at his desk could be considered instantly classified from the moment the pen hits paper. This means that finding a piece of paper with writing sitting on top of any desk, surface or object within Biden’s home could always be considered classified at some level. That means that anyone reading such documents without any clearance level granted could be considered having committed a crime. Not Biden, mind you, but the reader.

If there’s a crime having been committed here, it’s the people who infiltrated Biden’s home to find such classified documents. That means that the United States has a major security problem on its hands around Biden’s home.

If people (likely MAGA Republicans) are so easily able to penetrate the President’s residence to find such documents, security is no where near where it should be for that residence. This is clearly both a crime called breaking and entering and possibly even stalking.

Biden’s Security

Someone on Biden’s security team needs to quickly ferret out who gained access to the Biden Delaware home and how they managed to gain that access. This is a question no one is asking. However, this is a serious security breach at the top levels of government. No one should have access to Biden’s home with the exception of the Biden family and the Presidential security detail. All others should not be allowed onto the premises unless under escort by said security and only when a member of the Biden family is present. Otherwise, the Biden house should be firmly and completely secured and barred from entry except for Biden family members only. In other words, “Houston, we have a problem.”

Apples to Oranges

Let me get to the heart of why this all matters. Someone or several someones in the MAGA Republican party is simply trying to craft an illusion that appears like Trump’s classified document situation. This crafted situation is intended to make it seem like there’s something hypocritical going on. Except, there isn’t.

The only way the same situation between Trump and Biden can unfold is only after Biden leaves office as President. Only then can Biden be held accountable for holding onto classified documents at a personal residence.

While Biden remains a sitting President of the United States, he is a duly sworn officer of the United States Government and remains in power with all of the duties, responsibilities and, yes, clearances needed to perform that job.

On the other hand, Trump lost those powers, duties and clearances the moment he left office as President. For this reason alone, there is absolutely no comparison here.

Trump’s legal woes over classified documents remain. Donald Trump has no right, power or clearance to hold onto such still classified documents at his Mar-A-Lago residence. Biden, on the other hand, still holds every right, power and clearance to BE in possession of such classified documents wherever he chooses to work.

What Trump has done may be found to be illegal. What Biden has done (and continues to do) is perform his duties as sitting President of the United States. Until Biden leaves office, no crime has been committed involving classified documents. Dailymail, your article is a red herring and it’s damaging America.

Mainstream Media Stirring the Pot

Such articles by the likes of Dailymail only seek to stir the pot of dissent. They use people’s stupidity against them by making it seem like someone is in the wrong when clearly they are not. Thus, it only comes down to the editors and producers of said articles earnestly trying to undermine Democracy by making something appear as illegal when it clearly is not.

What Trump has done may very well be illegal and that remains to be seen by the investigations the DOJ is performing. Biden has done nothing yet illegal, but it might not be the brightest of ideas leaving such documents lying around in the open. Joe Biden, buy a proper document safe.

However, the question remains, how did someone gain access to Biden’s Delaware home to find such documents? No one should be allowed on the premises without Biden’s or his Secret Service detail’s authorization.

Something around Biden’s situation is clearly amiss, but it has nothing to do with classified documents. No one is investigating this.

Dailymail Comments

Reading some of the entirely misguided and, dare I say, stupid comments I’ve read on that Dailymail site, it’s clear that stupidity reigns supreme among MAGA conservatives. It’s like MAGA Republicans check their brains at the door when they walk into a room. They want to find anything and everything to attempt to discredit and, ultimately, impeach Biden. They are even willing to attempt to turn Biden’s daily and standard Presidential duties into a criminal activity.

While impeachment (using whatever junk they can fabricate) may be possible with the House now under Republican control, there is absolutely no way the Democrat controlled Senate will ever vote to convict and remove Biden from office. The MAGA Republicans know this, but they’re still trying quite hard and stupidly to discredit Biden. The only thing the MAGA Republicans are doing is making sure they never ever get elected again.

That’s the reason for such lame and stupid arguments as in this insipid Dailymail article allegedly finding classified documents at Biden’s residence. I’d honestly be more surprised if there WEREN’T classified documents found at Biden’s residences.

Planted Documents

Some have also supposed that the documents were planted by Republicans. While anything’s possible with MAGA extremists, they wouldn’t need to plant classified documents at Biden’s residence. Biden has been actively working at this residence and it makes perfect sense that some classified documents might remain there.

The question isn’t whether the documents were planted or even why the documents are there, but how someone managed to infiltrate Biden’s residence to find them? Why was someone snooping about Biden’s property? How did they get in? Why were they reading said classified documents of a sitting President without permission? These are bigger, more important security questions that need to be addressed… especially by Biden’s Secret Service Detail.

Vice President Documents

To close this article, you’ll notice that I didn’t mention the fact that these documents were from Biden’s time as Vice President until just now. Why is this fact not important? It’s not important because very likely there’s no way to establish exactly when the documents landed at Biden’s Delaware home. The presumption is that these documents landed at his home prior to Biden becoming President. We can’t know this.

Unless strict chain of custody for ALL classified documents is maintained, including exact dates when said documents changed hands, there is very likely no way to verify the exact date any specific document ended up at Biden’s home. Additionally, as President, Biden might need access to classified documents back from his a time as Vice President to handle matters occurring today. For this reason, he could have requested those documents and brought them to his home WHILE PRESIDENT… which is perfectly legal.

Finally, I’ll also point out that while the DOJ is investigating these documents found at his residence, they will likely exonerate Biden over all of the above points. I also hope that someone at the DOJ is smart enough to point out the security flaws and weaknesses with people snooping around Biden’s home in search of such documents… which honestly discloses the much, MUCH bigger problem here.

Let’s Suppose

Even if it’s possible to establish the documents were kept at the Biden residence prior to Biden becoming President, the fact that he is NOW President of the United States overrides that problem. The fact that he has clearance NOW overrides his possession of them when he wasn’t president and wasn’t vice president. Let’s take this one step further. The only way this information can truly be used against Biden is at an impeachment hearing.

The DOJ cannot easily (or possibly at all) bring criminal charges against a sitting President of the United States for activity prior to his being in office. The US Constitution is crystal clear on how to remove a President from office and that is strictly through impeachment and conviction via the House and Senate. That same constitution is entirely silent on bringing criminal charges against a sitting president and, up to this point, so has the Supreme Court remained silent on this point.

Political Stunt

This update is from Feb 4th, 2023. I’d like to point that in the same form as Republicans always like to call out against the Democrats, the Republicans are now guilty of doing exactly the same thing TO the Democrats. This whole situation is born out of a Republican agenda to discredit the Democrats. The point in “lawyers” “finding” documents at Biden’s home is strictly for the purposes of trying to weaken any DOJ case against Donald Trump.

The point here is that Donald Trump wants leverage when a DOJ lawsuit is finally brought against him (DJT). Trump can now point to Biden as an example of “the same classified document situation” and then ask why Biden is not being brought to justice over having similar documents at his house.

Let’s summarize the primary differences here:

1. One is president, one is not…
   • Biden is the sitting President of the United States.
   • Donald Trump is NOT president.
2. When exactly the documents arrived at the dwellings in question…
   • It cannot be established when Biden’s documents arrived at Biden’s Delaware home (i.e., before or after his presidency).
   • Donald Trump’s documents definitely arrived at Mar-A-Lago AFTER Trump left the White House and was, thus, no longer President and no longer held clearances high enough to possess some of those supposedly (de)classified documents.
3. Level of Classified Documents…
   • Biden’s documents were from a time when Biden was Vice President. It has not been established the level of classified documents involved, but likely were NOT the highest levels of top secret.
   • Allegedly, some of Trump’s classified documents involved documents so Top Secret, they could not be declassified by a sitting President under any circumstances.

These three basic points are what the Department of Justice must establish against both Biden and Trump. However, Biden is still the sitting President. Even if the DOJ were to find criminal actions  allegedly involving Biden, his being President overrules that criminal action. It is unlikely Biden can have any criminal actions brought against him while he is sitting President of the United States.

The only action afforded against a sitting President is those powers given to Congress to impeach (House) and convict (Senate) the President. Even then, these powers are political in nature, performed by politicians, not judicial actions performed by a justice or jury. In other words, there is no other actions available to the government against a sitting President.

The DOJ could hold its legal actions against Biden until Biden is no longer President. As long as Biden remains President, he is shielded from criminal actions by the DOJ. That doesn’t preclude individuals from suing Joe Biden in civil court, but the best that can be extracted from such civil actions is money. Civil proceedings are never criminal actions and cannot produce criminal consequences.

Difference between Biden and Trump

As for Donald Trump, his classified document case is fairly clear cut in most regards. The only real questions that must be answered around Donald Trump’s case is, “Were the documents actually declassified?” It is on the DOJ to establish whether or not some or all of the documents were declassified. If all of the documents were declassified, then there’s no case against Trump. If the DOJ had established this by now, then the DOJ would have already dismissed its case. It has not.

Further, it is also on the DOJ to prove that if some of documents couldn’t be declassified by a sitting President, then there is now a clear violation by Donald Trump in retaining those documents after becoming an ex-President.

Once the DOJ has established that Donald Trump had classified documents in his possession and that those documents were not declassified (and at what level), then it is on the DOJ to establish the level of crime that Donald Trump committed while by being in possession of said documents. After this point, it is, once again, on the DOJ to further ascertain if foreign nationals visited Mar-A-Lago (via registration at Mar-A-Lago and/or flight records and/or cab records and or rental car records) and determine if those visiting foreign nationals might have had access to said documents in Donald Trump’s possession.

Being in possession of classified documents is a separate crime (possession) from allowing foreign nationals access and, more importantly, to view and read such classified documents (espionage / treason).

The Department of Justice has a long road of research ahead for all of the above.

With Biden, possession of such classified documents isn’t currently a crime. Even then, the only way to try and convict Biden is through impeachment. With Trump, there is absolutely nothing shielding Trump against such criminal legal actions. Trump can try to point at Biden as an example, but Biden’s Presidential shield is pretty impenetrable. Trump has no such shield at all against DOJ actions. Even as much as Trump wishes to use Biden as a punching bag, it’s not going to work in the long run.

Once the DOJ chooses to bring criminal action against Trump, there’s nothing Trump can say, do or point fingers at that will reduce his liabilities… no, not even Biden’s having documents at his Delaware home.

Political Stunt Conclusion

And yes, the entire reason for Trump to use Biden as a “classified documents” punching bag is strictly a political stunt. It hasn’t even been established if the documents were planted at Biden’s residence strictly to facilitate this political stunt. Knowing Trump’s callous disregard for, well, just about any law in existence, there’s absolutely know way to know if Trump orchestrated this whole shenanigan against Biden. If I were working in the Government, I’d definitely begin an investigation over the lawyers who allegedly found these documents at Biden’s residence to find out what connections they may have to Trump…. see six degrees of separation.

Note: Randocity prefers using Reuters and the AP as sources whenever possible. These two news organizations have regularly proven to be mostly unbiased when reporting, unlike all major TV “cable news” networks.

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