r/politics • u/Beckles28nz • 9d ago
Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama say they have no classified documents
https://www.businessinsider.com/clinton-bush-obama-say-they-have-no-classified-documents-carter-2023-1699
u/HellaTroi California 9d ago
Anybody ask Dick Cheney?
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u/speakermic 9d ago
Back in 2007:
Vice President Cheney's office has refused to comply with an executive order governing the handling of classified information for the past four years and recently tried to abolish the office that sought to enforce those rules, according to documents released by a congressional committee yesterday.
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u/HellaTroi California 9d ago
Wow! How'd I miss that story?
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u/PeptoBismark 9d ago
Lost in the shuffle with Cheney's man-sized safe and his own personal "treat as classified" stamp.
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u/Sprocketvgc Arizona 9d ago
Wait, Cheney refused a direct executive order from Dubya? How the hell did that not make headlines at the time?
Now I need to do some digging.
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u/rva_monsta
9d ago
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Reverse National Treasure plot: they all have docs and have to team up to get them back to the Archives.
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u/McFluff22 9d ago •
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And Nicholas Cage is in charge of making sure no one breaks into the archives.
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u/petedakilla 9d ago edited 9d ago
Then Nicholas Cage finally ends up narrating a Scorsese film about the events that led up to his life as an FBI informant who rats on other treasure hunters.
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u/JerkIzAllPro 9d ago
That movies name: Goncharev
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u/BigChung0924 9d ago
as far back as i can remember, i always wanted to be a treasure hunter
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u/Antelope010 9d ago
I always thought it would be hilarious to put a bunch of former presidents in a anti-buddy-cop movie where they all hate each other but have to team up to save/do something and become best friends along the way.
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u/ExistingGoldfish Maryland 9d ago
There is one! My Fellow Americans (1996).
“Ex-presidents Kramer (Jack Lemmon) and Douglas (James Garner) have hated each other for years. But when the current administration of President Haney (Dan Aykroyd) -- Kramer's former vice president -- tries blaming a string of kickbacks from a defense contractor on the two former presidents, they band together. With Haney's goons trying to kill them, they set out across the country to try and clear their reputations. In the process, they see a side of America they never knew before.”
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u/Persianator 9d ago
I love this movie. It was one of those movies your family owns on vhs as a kid and you watched dozens of times. When you try to talk to other people about it they look at you like youre from mars.
Anyways great film, 8 year old persianator loved it, and I still do.
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u/MovingInStereoscope 9d ago
Well it's a good thing we aren't Gerald Ford or we'd be in a heap at the bottom of these stairs.
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u/PeptoBismark 9d ago
I loved the bit where they shared their own personal lyrics for "Hail to the Chief".
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u/thatirishguy0 Florida 9d ago
Same. Growing up, we had this on VHS. Grandfather loved those guys.
No one else I've asked irl knows abiut this movie.
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u/Canmanrofls 9d ago
Isn't this essentially "my fellow Americans"?
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u/Antelope010 9d ago
Well yes, but with George Bush, Barak Obama, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter playing themselves!
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u/CompassionateCedar 9d ago
Imagine Jimmy carter finding classified documents. By now the classification probably expired
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u/ProgressivePessimist 9d ago
I was just thinking the other day how this would be a good SNL skit.
Castmember tells Nic Cage type character how they need to retrieve some documents. Nic Cage goes into long speech about symbolism, mystery, intrigue, etc. He fantasizes about past events and gears up for another global adventure.
Cut to them tediously going through boxes and desk drawers in a plain suburban home.
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u/M_Mich 9d ago
second set, a you-store-it
third set, a shed at the ex-wife’s house
they finally find the documents in a prior years tax filing w their 1099, w2, and some napkins
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u/insultant_ 9d ago
If I was a Hollywood producer, I’d offer you $50m to make this movie.
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u/coalcoalcoal I voted 9d ago
Not enough. First one's budget was $100m and second was $130m. In 2004 and 2007 respectively!
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u/T_that_is_all Ohio 9d ago
$140-185 mil adjusted for 2023 dollars, and barely over half of Waterworld's budget, when adjusted. The $50 mil won't work, but a similar budget to the originals would still make a decent action flick nowadays. At those prices, still a hefty amount tho.
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u/KingMwanga 9d ago
Nah Michelle was like we ain’t taking no work home the fuck
Hilary scanned them to her desktop then deleted them
George Bush probably doesn’t know how to work a computer so he’s clear
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u/TheGary2000 9d ago
"One of the things I've used on the google is to pull up maps." - George W. Bush.
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u/freehatt2018 New Mexico 9d ago
Coloring books are not classified. I wonder what Cheney has in his closet.
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u/purephase 9d ago edited 9d ago
The Carter comments are funny, since he predates the presidential records act, and it's likely that any documents he might have would be automatically declassified by this point anyway.
I feel like they included him just to be nice.
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u/P_Grammicus 9d ago
Jimmy Carter has classified documents in his heart.
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u/Nick_from_Yuma Nebraska 9d ago
Uses the docs to insulate the Habitat for Humanity homes he helps build
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u/monkeychasedweasel 9d ago
He used them as fireplace fuel so he didn't have to turn his thermostat above 68 degrees.
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u/CWinter85 9d ago
Carter just posts a picture of himself in front of cases of classified documents with sunglasses throwing gang signs with the caption "can't touch this"
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u/RubberDuckyUthe1 9d ago edited 9d ago
Carter was smart and hide his documents in walls as insulation in homes he built with Habitat for Humanity
Edit: I’m glad so many watch late night television and you feel the need to let me know that you do so. However, I do not. If it bothers you to see similar jokes being made about the same current events, feel free to give him credit. I don’t need you too tell me you watch Colbert.
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u/Ilovekbbq 9d ago
This actually made me laugh. I know his presidency is often looked at negatively general public. But man he really was the kind of person that you wanted to have as your president. His integrity, character and good-nature was what you loved about the typical IDEA of an effective, capable leader. Ironically, was probably his kindness genuine care about his country and citizens that resulted in decisions made judged pretty harshly by people today.
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u/Naterian 9d ago
I totally agree. He was also the only president who was genuinely horrified by some of the unscrupulous things the CIA did and worked to curtail it. They hated him for it.
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u/WorldRenownedRacist 9d ago
I totally agree. He was also the only president who was genuinely horrified by some of the unscrupulous things the CIA did and worked to curtail it. They hated him for it.
Might explain why the hostages in Iran were never freed during his term. Also, fuck Regan
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u/LeroyCadillac 9d ago
This is the real reason. Republicans cut a deal with our enemy who was holding our citizens hostage in order to win an election. They haven't given a shit about America since Nixon; each of their Presidential nominees worse and more incompetent than the last.
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u/thechilipepper0 9d ago
Fox News was literally created to ensure a Nixon-like downfall could never happen again. And it worked!
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u/blue2002222 9d ago
i think kennedy was also horrified and tried his best to curb its power
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u/Agitated_Pickle_518 9d ago
No. If anything, the lesson of his presidency is that a decent person needs to also push back on the bullshit that awful people are doing to break them.
A second Carter term could have meant significant growth for consumer protections, the EPA, and more.
Other forces needed him out so they could put Ronald "sell the soul of the country for a nickel" Reagan in control.
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u/Unadvantaged 9d ago
But Reagan was just so “aw-shucks” charming. What could go wrong?
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u/geologean 9d ago
I honestly do not understand how so many fell for his entire act. He's not even a good actor. He was a C-list actor, known best for acting opposite and adult Shirley-Temple in a movie that flopped because America didn't want to see their child sweetheart as a grown woman.
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u/smb275 9d ago
This is the same voting public that then went on to elect a failed reality TV personality that half of NYC could have told you was human dogshit. But haha "you're fired" haha was too appealing, somehow.
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u/moonbears9988 9d ago
I wish I could upvote this 100 times… he is so underrated. Not to mention the decision to take on Paul volker to kill inflation at the time.
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u/vmqbnmgjha 9d ago
I'm a hardcore atheist and I love Jimmy.
A truly great human being.
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u/SomethingIWontRegret 9d ago
I think most atheists don't have a problem with Sermon on the Mount christians.
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u/_-__-__-__-__-_-_-__ 9d ago
I'm an atheist and I don't have a problem with Jesus the man. It's the supernatural claims made by people who never met him years after he died that I have a problem with.
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u/Ccomfo1028 9d ago
I think that he is proof that it is very difficult to be a decent human and lead a country. Some of the decisions you have to make can ever be made by someone with a caring heart. Absolute power corrupts absolutely but also to be a good leader you are going to have to make terrible decisions sometimes.
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u/Organic-Salad-1108 9d ago
Dude read his auto biography, he points out exactly what went wrong in his presidency. From lobbyists, to Iran, to the Panama canal crisis, OPEC... Dude could not catch a break.
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u/aiiye Washington 9d ago
Did my undergrad thesis on a topic under his presidency.
He got hosed, and its damn unfortunate. Still, a remarkably decent man and we'd be in a better place if more of our elected leaders were like him.
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u/singuslarity 9d ago
It didn't help that Ted Kennedy tried to primary him.
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u/Unadvantaged 9d ago
Seems pretty opportunistic in retrospect. “He looks bad on the economy, now’s my chance.”
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u/capron 9d ago
This was a HUGE hit to his electability. If even his own party members aren't backing him, why should regular joe voters? Kennedy was a little fucker.
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u/Thirteenpointeight 9d ago
That's true, but imo the greater political challenge is how difficult it is to get decent humans elected to the highest offices. Those seeking power are often those least suited to wield it kind of thing.
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u/yak-broker Washington 9d ago
There's always classified documents in the banana stand
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u/GuyPronouncedGee 9d ago
It's one classified document, Mr. President. What could it cost, $10?
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u/RubberDuckyUthe1 9d ago
That never made sense to me. If it’s an annual Christmas tradition by Newport Beach youths to destroy the banana stand by throwing it into the ocean, wouldn’t someone have found the money?
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u/meezy-yall 9d ago
To be fair , the R value of classified documents is far better than fiberglass insulation, it was just smart
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u/Thosepassionfruits 9d ago
I know this is a joke, but I get the feeling that it's going to evolve into a dumbass conspiracy theory in a couple of years.
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u/Sprocketvgc Arizona 9d ago
Declassification only matters from a national security point of view. Willfully possessing government property (aka government documents, classified or not) and not returning said property is a crime unto itself.
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u/ScarsUnseen 9d ago
Carter sold his peanuts for his country; Trump sold his country for peanuts.
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u/surfingNerd 9d ago
What about Cheney?
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u/AnotherQuietHobbit 9d ago
there can't be anything left at his place anymore. I'm sure any documents in his possession have long since been turned over to the good people at Halliburton.
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u/RuairiSpain 9d ago
Some retired officials still get read into top secret briefings. I think it's a courtesy for ex Presidents, but considering Chaney was running the show and Bush Jr was a figurehead, I won't be surprised is some right leaning DoD generals keep him looped in with official sign off.
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u/LaunchTransient Europe 9d ago
Some retired officials still get read into top secret briefings.
This is a necessary thing, tbh, because if someone has experience with, say, the political intrigue in Islamabad or knowledge of how another government operates, that's not always something passed on in paperwork. Sometimes it's just better ringing up the old guard to get their take on things.
IIRC, Kennedy phoned Eisenhower to consult him on how to handle the Cuban Missile Crisis.
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u/thedirtyharryg 9d ago
Sometimes certain former Presidents will have better personal relations with other world leaders (especially the life-long ones) as well.
Make for good back channels.
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u/Low-Director9969 9d ago
It's better than just being given a letter, and a pistol by your predecessor.
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u/genowars 9d ago
That's very true. Not only the old guard, you could also get basketball player to smoothen talks with dictators like Kim Jong Un.
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u/Low-Director9969 9d ago
An aid leans in to whisper in the sitting President's ear, "To be honest sir. They started this mess. It might not hurt to consult them on the issue.
Worst case scenario they'll tell us how they would've made it worse. Then we can avoid doing that."
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u/PmMeYourNiceBehind 9d ago
Yeah do we really think Dubya brought any homework home? That was Cheneys job
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u/Cultist_Deprogrammer 9d ago
He's got no classified documents, just this briefcase full of cash.
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u/greenroom628 California 9d ago
briefcase? that cheap? i'd think he had a bunker full of cash as well as "spare heart volunteers".
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u/tcmart14 9d ago
He took his friend quail hunting and looked what happened to him. You really wanna be the one to go ask Cheney?
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u/drdactyl
9d ago
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Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and 330 million other Americans were marked safe from possession of classified documents.
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u/BigDaddy1054 9d ago
Idk man, when was your last audit?
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u/organasm 9d ago
Shit, I just reached for my favorite waifu manga and ... it was classified dox. 😫
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u/frissonFry 9d ago •
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I picked up a Gamecube from a garage sale for $10 and I kept finding classified documents in all the compartments. I was really hoping to find cash, some beer, and an N64 inside it. I guess we can't all be so lucky.
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u/Minttt Canada 9d ago
Don't worry, I hear all it takes is a Truth Social message to Trump, and he will declassify your dox with his mind.
People are saying this tactic is 100% legally sound.
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u/JesusForTheWin 9d ago
Don't you hate it when that happens!?
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u/el-art-seam 9d ago
You know what’s more annoying? When you run out of toilet paper, have to quickly grab some from under the sink, and instead grab a roll of classified documents.
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u/RTrover 9d ago
The old shit ticket swapped with Classified documents joke… In the military we call this “freaky Fridays”….everyone has to stay late to find the rest of the classified documents. good time good times.
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u/forceblast 9d ago •
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I just did a check of my house and found my newspaper had an entire classified section. How screwed am I?
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u/veerKg_CSS_Geologist 9d ago
Have you tried unclassifying them with your mind?
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u/motleysalty 9d ago
A sharpie should do the trick.
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u/jspook 9d ago
I think you can just declare it
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u/czar_the_bizarre 9d ago
Hey. I just wanted you to know that you can't just say the word "declassified" and expect anything to happen.
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u/veerKg_CSS_Geologist 9d ago
That's right. You have to say it 3 times and do a little twirl.
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u/orrocos 9d ago
You’re pretty screwed. But also, could you check to see if anyone has an inexpensive, gently used desk listed? I could pick it up after 4:30 today. Thanks.
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u/legalizemonapizza 9d ago
fr if you're in Texas let's talk, I got a used desk I'm about to throw out. I'd rather give it away than junk it
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u/BananaSlander 9d ago
Can you deliver it 3 hours away and also pay me a disposal fee? It's for a church, honey
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u/itchy_dog_chin 9d ago
All I see is this “Resolute Desk” thing, apparently it recently got a Diet Coke button installed?
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u/Jeramus 9d ago
Lots of people have secret clearance so I am sure some of them are in possession of classified documents any given point. The problem is the documents not being stored in the correct way.
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u/timoumd 9d ago
Eh you shouldnt have them at home unless youve got a GSA approved security container. I wouldnt be shocked if some folks packed up some papers or notes improperly
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u/verrius 9d ago
Politicians are literally generating them though. Government worker B sending a note to a spouse that says "Going to be home for dinner at 7", its is a normal thing; if the Secretary of State does it, suddenly its a security issue because someone who intercepts that note would know where the Secretary is at a specific time so boom classified.
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u/fallingbehind Washington 9d ago
I just tore apart my house. No classified documents. I found some disturbing shit about my wife though, and I’m currently burning all her belongings in my backyard.
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u/PilcrowTime 9d ago
I did the same at my house and found equally disturbing material regarding your wife.
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u/FundleBundle29 9d ago
I notice Jimmy Carter isn’t a part of this… has someone checked Jimmy’s house?
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u/Professional_360 9d ago
Now ask Cheney!!
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u/TintedApostle 9d ago
Cheney deleted 2 million email messages. I suspect he has docs.
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u/Professional_360 9d ago
Oh fuck yeah! And they're in boxes next to his collection of hunting rifles. He's daring someone to come get them!
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u/tcmart14 9d ago
“Mr. Cheney we are coming by to see if you happen to be in possession of any classi-“
A day or two later you wake up in the hospital with Dick Cheney with some flowers in your room.
“Sorry about that, I thought I saw a quail on your face. Now what is it you wanted to ask me?”
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u/Bleedmaster California 9d ago
Cheney wouldn't apologize. He'd make the victim apologize. I mean, that's what he did.
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u/Tree_Droppings 9d ago
Tbh, people who have been elected to positions with top security clearance possessing top secret documents/data is not as disturbing to me as just how lax the White House/federal government is with our top secret documents/data. How many top secret documents/data are in the possession of unfriendly hands?
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u/AlludedNuance 9d ago
The fact Jared Kuschner had access to classified materials is a far more significant national security worry, imo.
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u/Independent_Plate_73 9d ago edited 9d ago
Thank you. Yahoos like him and gambling degenerate John McEntee bypassing clearance protocols under Trump is not spoken of nearly enough.
As Jared Kushner’s father-in-law, Donald J. Trump, was running for President, the Kushners were pitching Qatari investors to help bail out the building. And just weeks after his father Charles reportedly failed to reach a deal with Qatar’s minister of finance, Jared Kushner, in his capacity as a senior adviser to President Trump, reportedly played a central role in supporting a blockade of Qatar by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Kushner never disclosed his meeting with Saudi Arabia and the UAE on the blockade to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson at the time. Later, a financial company tied to Qatar brokered an especially valuable deal to rescue the Kushner Companies’ property at 666 Fifth Avenue.
https://theintercept.com/2018/03/21/jared-kushner-saudi-crown-prince-mohammed-bin-salman/
“If the reason this administration put U.S. troops at risk in Qatar was to protect the Kushners’ financial interests, then that’s all the evidence you need to make some big changes in the White House,” Murphy said.
MBS is in Washington this week. On Tuesday, he was warmly received by Trump, who told reporters that the U.S.-Saudi relationship is “probably the strongest it’s ever been.”
Yet Pompeo has the audacity to defend Prince BoneSaw because “our troops”. Where’s mary louise kelly to put him in his place again?
ETA: as an aside, recently arrested former FBI special agent in charge of russian counterintelligence McGonigal was working for the company that happened to serendipitously bail out 666 from kushner.
https://money.cnn.com/2018/08/03/news/companies/kushner-666-fifth-avenue-brookfield/index.html
Brookfield Properties announced Friday afternoon that it has acquired a 100% leasehold interest in the building, a 1.5 million square foot property at 666 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, for 99 years through one of its funds. The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
McGonigal’s LinkedIn profile says he most recently worked as a senior vice president at commercial real estate giant Brookfield Properties. A company spokesman previously said he left Brookfield in January 2022.
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u/TheAngriestChair 9d ago
Because he shouldn't have but daddy in law forced them to give him clearance. That should not be acceptable for anyone. If you can't get clearance, then yiu shouldn't get the documents. Brief them if they are elected (no way on he'll trump could get a clearance of he hadn't been elected) and make sure they get no documents. Let them sit there with a divider between them and the documents if needed.
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u/austinmiles 9d ago edited 9d ago
Let's not forget that China hacked the Office of Personnel Management and acquired files of everyone who has gotten a security clearance which covers millions of people and their backgrounds and close relations, financial situation, history of where they lived, close friends, etc.
Security is an illusion especially in our government.
Note: Previously said they hacked the NSA, but it was just a hack that had highly sensitive NSA personnel data
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u/xuteloops 9d ago
OPM not the NSA. OPM is who handles clearance investigations and such.
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u/-The-Baba-Jaga- Texas 9d ago
I feel like they're asking to get searched.
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u/Michael_In_Cascadia 9d ago
They're confident that establishing their presidential libraries had already inventoried their stored records as thoroughly as can reasonably be expected.
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u/oldcretan 9d ago
They probably returned all classified documents in that search when discovery and return of such documents was not newsworthy.
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u/BostonUniStudent 9d ago edited 9d ago •
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The reason it's become an issue now is because, customarily, National Archives only needs to inform the party that they possessed classified documents. And they would be promptly returned. As was the case with these three presidents.
The NA followed that procedure with Donald Trump. The problem is that he hid some documents, refused to return the ones identified, improperly held them... And it's currently being investigated whether he released them to potentially adversarial parties.
There's a separate conversation about whether we "over-classify" documents. A lot of Biden's classified documents were just old Day Planner calendars. Technically classified, but I wonder how much national security is jeopardized if they are declassified. Same with the stuff Pence had apparently. From what I've seen of the Donald Trump collection, there are some very sensitive nuclear secrets, the names and locations of various intelligence agents, dirt on foreign leaders.... Some stuff that really makes you wonder why he wanted to keep it. He's literally going to court to try to withhold returning it.
These are not all the same scandal.
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u/RollyPollyGiraffe I voted 9d ago
It suggests that maybe one of the things coming out of this is a policy for non-security risk files to be automatically lose classified status at the end of term.
No one should be having a scandal whipped up over calendars, for example.
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u/Nokomis34 9d ago
This is what people can't seem to understand, especially now that they get to "both sides" it. If Trump had returned all documents when asked, it would have been a nothingburger. Having the documents wasn't the big deal (Let's just not think about what he was doing with them right now). It's that he tried to keep them and also lied about having returned them.
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u/ropdkufjdk 9d ago
If Trump had returned all documents when asked, it would have been a nothingburger.
Which thanks to Mike Pence is now able to be conclusively demonstrated.
It's not that Trump had documents that is the problem, it is his refusal to surrender them or cooperate.
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u/wayoverpaid Illinois 9d ago
That just shows you that Mike Pence is a darling of the deep state /s
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u/SquidmanMal Pennsylvania 9d ago
You /s, but from bits and pieces I saw from subreddits, they're actually calling 'deep state' and 'false flag' and all that shit.
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u/pimpletwist 9d ago
They could understand it if they wanted to. This is a typical case of deliberately misunderstanding the details so they can pretend they’re equivalent circumstances. It’s what right wingers do now. And you know that they knowingly do it, because they have no trouble with understanding minute details if it can support their narrative
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u/Cultural_Ad_1693 9d ago
Seriously, will pull up the smallest most obscure detail to support their narrative but won't give a 2nd glance at this.
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u/wayoverpaid Illinois 9d ago
They could understand it if they wanted to.
That's the part that's so damn frustrating. It's not splitting hairs to differentiate between voluntary cooperation and intentional obstruction.
If you prosecute voluntary cooperation, you will create a culture where people will not cooperate. Better to shred that document you found and pretend your never saw it than notify the authorities "We found some docs please come get them" meaning the lapse that let that document go missing can never be addressed.
If you don't prosecute intentional obstruction, you'll get more of it.
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u/mrpickles 9d ago edited 9d ago
Yeah, the nature of the classified material matters.
If Biden kept a copy of his doctor's exam, so what? I get why that might be classified, but its also not essential to national security.
If Trump kept nuclear secrets, that's a whole other ball game. I mean first of all, WTF were they doing at his house? Second, why did he not return them? And yes third, there is at least some reason to be concerned he shared them with foreign adversaries.
We need a lot more details (many of which are likely classified) but its shaping up to be a case of Apples and Oranges.
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u/Parking_Onion_3846 9d ago
At least with what we know publicly, in Trump's case the obstruction is the more immediate issue. It's unlikely that we'll ever know exactly what any of them actually had, but we do know their responses to the attempt by the appropriate authorities trying to find out.
Pence and Biden's cases are stupid, but unlikely to be anything they'd be prosecuted for; Trump's is obviously criminal because of his attempts to obstruct the return of the documents, even if it turned out that there wasn't anything more important in them than there was in Biden's or Pence's.
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u/FlutterKree Washington 9d ago
I mean first of all, WTF were they doing at his house?
Club*, that can have literally anyone visit it who pays enough.
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u/jalepinocheezit 9d ago
Excuse me, I suppose you haven't heard a little argument that goes to the tune of BOTH SIDES THOUGH
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u/jjameson2000 Michigan 9d ago
This is most likely the case. I’d be more surprised to find that a politician actually packed up their own boxes than I would that they carelessly took classified documents with them on their way out.
We should probably look more rigorously at documents leaving when politicians leave office, but Trump should be in trouble for the way he brazenly told the justice department to fuck off while not securing the classified documents he then knew he must have had.
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u/Swesteel 9d ago
They’ve already checked, both Biden and Pence had their own people look for and return their documents, better believe a lot of other people have done the same.
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u/your_mind_aches 9d ago
It seems like they all got some kind of notice or legal advice to make sure and check.
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u/writingt 9d ago
Hilarious photo right under the headline
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u/bryson430 9d ago
I know, that picture is absolutely perfect.
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u/MPLooza 9d ago
Scrolled too far to find this comment. Those smiles all become giant shit-eating grins in context, Obama is even waving goodbye to the bullshit with his cool guy shades on. Priceless
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u/wpmason 9d ago
Can we do Mitch next?
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u/ihateredditredesign2 9d ago •
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I used to have classified documents. I still do, but I used to, too.
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9d ago
I bet they do say that. So did Pence.
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u/CodeMonkeyPhoto 9d ago
Yeap and still the false equivalence being made. The difference is Trump denied having them, when he did. He moved them a couple of times. It’s known that foreign entities may have had access to these documents, and some disappeared. Then the raid happened, Trump claims it’s planted. Then ask for them back. Also obstruction at every step. Also these docs that Trump had contained some of the highest intelligence levels of information, not someone’s daily schedule that got marked confidential.
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u/magheet Colorado 9d ago
At this point I might need to check my own house.
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u/Hiranonymous 9d ago
Me too, but, to be on the safe side, I'm just going to send all my documents to the National Archives and let them figure it out.
Apparently, NA employees are experts at filing documents, and I hate filing. If they can handle this for me, I'm all for it.
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u/gearstars 9d ago
next week's article:
Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama
say theyhavenoclassified documents
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u/Falco98 9d ago
Frankly I could barely care less if they have a few accidentally still on file or something. The delineation point started out as, and still is, who knowingly packed up crates full while still in power, absconded with them to their private insecure residence, denied/lied/gaslight/fought for months to not return anything / not get searched, until they had no choice (and even then still denied/gaslit like crazy).
So far, the above describes one and only person that I know of. And if it ends up describing anyone else in addition, then let them be investigated as well.
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u/TintedApostle 9d ago
My take with Obama is he has none at all. He has been subject to scrutiny since before he was even elected. He knows that one slip up and the right wing would go after him. I suspect he made sure everything was clean for himself before he left office.
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u/prof_the_doom I voted 9d ago
He also tended to use a lot less physical copies of documents than anyone else did, if I recall correctly.
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u/skulloctopus2023 9d ago
Check them anyway. Just by seeing that Trump, Pence, and Biden all had classified documents in their homes and offices outside of SCIF's, means that every cabinet member of every former president needs to have their homes, offices, etc all searched for classified documents. Carter too!
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u/Hyperion1144 9d ago
What does Carter say???
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u/Tiggeribby Kansas 9d ago
He was President before the law governing classified documents was passed.
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