(09-14-2022 02:38 PM)mlb Wrote:  

(09-14-2022 02:23 PM)UofMstateU Wrote:  Partly correct. If Trump had documents the government wanted in a more secure setting, they are to set that up for him. (Which is why Obama has a NARA in Chicago for him.) If they believe Trump's documents are so sensitive they belong in a scif, they are to set that up for him.

According to the article RWT linked, he doesn't get to keep classified outside of DC. If he needed access to those documents then I would assume his archivist would request that information and he could then go and review them in DC in a SCIF. Again, it would not be in the basement of his residence where hundreds of people could potentially gain access daily.

U is correct in the process above. The problem is that Trump stonewalled even acknowledging the existence of the papers being stored behind a padlock in his basement, and in his office. He lied about that issue.

PRA states that the former President is allowed access to the documents. It also states that the documents are owned, possessed, and controlled by the government.

The espionage act doesnt care where they are -- just that they are illicitly being possessed or controlled.

Keeping them padlocked in a room in a basement might provide access to Trump, but it doesnt come anywhere close to the "owned, possessed, and controlled" issue. Nor do the ones being kept in boxes in the office of DJT.

And none of the two comes close to the issues in the Espionage Act.