(TheLibertyRevolution.com)- The FBI did not only allegedly take classified records that the former president kept in his possession, but Trump claims that they took his medical records as well, according to Mediaite. The outlet reports that Trump is currently exploiting all of the attention he is receiving to claim to be the victim of a witch hunt.
The outlet then cites the Washington Post as claiming that of the 11,000 documents confiscated by the FBI, many were highly classified “revealing the nuclear capabilities of an unnamed country citing sources close to the document” (italics added). This is very believable and yet, even if it were true, it would now be considered a felony for a former president for possess these classified documents.
What does not add up, however, is that per earlier reports, the National Archives were in contact with the former president over documents that he had in his possession. He claims that not only was he cooperative and had he given the documents they asked for, but there was no further communication before the FBI decided to raid his home in Mar-a-Lago at the behest of Attorney General Merrick Garland. It was alleged that an informant came forward with a tip that Trump had classified documents in his possession, something that the former president does not deny and which was not unknown to the National Archives.
Additional information that is not being discussed is that George W. Bush signed an executive order after 9/11 in November 2001, stating that stated that an incumbent president could not override a former president’s claim to executive privilege over documents. Barack Obama reversed that guidance, which reportedly went back to Watergate and the Reagan era where incumbent presidents had the final say over past presidents, which gave them authority to act through the National Archives, Just the News reported.
“In making the determination referred to in subsection (a) of this section, the Archivist shall abide by any instructions given him by the incumbent President or his designee unless otherwise directed by a final court order,” Obama’s order dated Jan. 21, 2009 stated.
The FBI and Justice Department were able to move ahead with the search warrant after the Biden White House allegedly cleared the way for them to act first by “empaneling a grand jury in May and issuing a subpoena to Trump, visiting his home on June 3 and eventually raiding the home with a criminal search warrant on Aug. 8.”
But this is assuming the Biden White House knew about the raid beforehand, which they have denied. In fact, they have denied knowing about the raid at all or the moves of Merrick Garland.
Acclaimed lawyer and professor Alan Dershowitz encouraged Trump to pursue legal challenges against the FBI, saying that he believes the Supreme Court would give him more deference than they did with Nixon.
“The idea that a sitting president can somehow waive the executive privilege of a previous president really wrecks the executive privilege, which is implicit in Article II of the Constitution,” Dershowitz told Just the News. “You can’t have a privilege, which then your political opponent can waive.