If Trump was not ex-President would he be in jail by now with his handling of classified materials?

Not without a trial.

Wonder how Edward Snowden would answer this question?

Ask Hillary Clinton

Thanks @Blackwater_Park I was going to say that. Remember how the Repugnant Party shouted “Lock Her Up” when Hillary had those email on her server?

This is far far worse (Trump and documents) and the Repugnants are wantint it to slide.

What hypocrisy!

It is hypocrisy, no denying that. I disagree about the email server though. That was played down by the media. Electronic documents on a private server are far more vulnerable than a couple of paper copies in a safe that get pulled out and bragged about like a trophy. Intent may or may not be a differentiation here (hard to prove or disprove Clinton’s intent) but either of these things would potentially land an everyday person in serious trouble. The nature of the documents in both situations also makes a huge difference on the potential impact. We all know how the world gives certain people a pass though.

Well, of course Trump would. Also, practically no one else would ever have access to those. I mean, maybe some analyst or intelligence director or something. Imagine one of those also owning Mar-a-lago and just leaving boxes of Top Secret nuclear weapons info sitting around there, over a year after retiring.

As for Clinton: Last thing I read about Clinton’s server was that it was actually something about having delegated a task to a legal service, and they made a mistake.

I have yet to see any reputable source on the subject that shows Clinton to have actually done anything that investigators thought made sense to indict her for. Nor anything that looks like political favoritism protecting her. Quite the opposite.

@Zaku I keep hearing excuses like that. Anyone who works in gov’t, especially in IT that high up knows better. I have a hard time believing it was just a formality. The legal thing was about the deletions, not the server. After they’re gone, how do you prove what they were anyway. I’m sorry, it stinks. I am NOT defending Trump here. He should face consequences if this was blatant opposition to the law.

@Blackwater_Park I work in IT. In fact, I’ve worked for Microsoft testing their security systems that the government uses to secure MS Outlook (their email systems). Thinking about what Clinton’s email must have looked like as Secretary of State, it makes sense to me that she would have a huge amount of email, and that handling it would be delegated as the articles have mentioned.

What specifically do you think I ought to “know better” about the situation?

@Blackwater_Park It was way more than a “couple documents in a safe”. Let’s not minimize what was done here.

”The affidavit unsealed Friday revealed that those boxes included “184 unique documents bearing classification markings, including 67 documents marked as CONFIDENTIAL, 92 documents marked as SECRET and 25 documents marked as TOP SECRET.””

But you guys forget Trump waved his small hands over said documents and declared them declassified and Thus they were see the difference?
Why he had them at his home after he was no longer president is a different thing.

@Zaku Can’t Trump just make the same excuse? He delegated the document storage/ onsite necessity to some underling? It’s really the same thing here unless he fesses up to some nefarious intent or knowledge. Again, can’t help but point out the hypocrisy here. I have no idea why he would want them outside of keeping them as some sort of trophy. There are some nefarious reasons for keeping a private email server, but it’s hard to prove intent. It’s required basic cyber security training for federal employees to understand how to properly use email like this. It’s also in Sarbanes-Oxley training which is required too. Still does not pass any smell test I’d give.

@Blackwater_Park He can’t just delegate the Secret and Top Secret storage of documents that never should have left Washington DC ! Oh he doesn’t delegate things; he micromanages things!

Don’t know but there could have been “Weapon System” documents that Trump’s buddy Kim in North Korea would give just about anything to get his hands on them.

@Tropical_Willie Sure he could have, was he not operating out of that office there at times? could staffers have brought those docs in to be used as part of those operations? Facts have not come out here but I can see how that would have happened. Same things could have happened to a private email server. I’m not defending Trump, I’m pointing out the hypocrisy. IMO hard copies under lock and key are less vulnerable than a rogue email server. The right wing media went on a feeding frenzy over that just like the left-wing media is over this. It’s not likely different. We will see when (if) the facts come out.

They were in a closet next to the pool table . . . where any of his clients from LIV golf (Saudia Arabia) could take them; no lock no key just cardboard boxes.

They were items that are being implied, should have NEVER left DC, these aren’t copies of Smithsonian or Golf Digest !

@Blackwater_Park you sure like to defend poor little small hands Trump, but what do you say about a few months a go Trump supposedly handed over all the classified documents, even his lawyers said yup you got them all, EXCEPT National Archives said wait a minute there is still more missing,and what do you know they were found at Trump’s home.
How do you defend that?
Remember when the FBI first showed up Trump screamed they are planting stuff,then the next breath he said he declassified all the documents?? He declassified the documents the FBI supposedly planted?
And only his newest mouth piece will back him up saying he declassified the documents the rest of his staff don’t remember any such order.
and once declassified anyone can view them including all news sources think they should?

What organization can you think of that would tolerate the loud mouthed arrogant lying dummy. It is no accident that Trump never actually had a job. Trump is the lesson on the milage achievable from money and ruthless unprincipled arrogance ALONE.

@Blackwater_Park “Can’t Trump just make the same excuse? He delegated the document storage/ onsite necessity to some underling? It’s really the same thing here unless he fesses up to some nefarious intent or knowledge.”
– No, absolutely not.
– Boxes of physical Top Secret documents are a VERY different thing from email data.
– For one thing, government email is encrypted, and requires a physical keycard (and keycard reading hardware, and the right version of the email software) to decrypt it. It’s also programmed so that someone without full clearance could be delegated to move email, without having access to actually read the contents.
– Any guest, worker, or spy with access to Mar-a-Lago could have gone where the boxes are and photographed or taken the documents.
– A spy would not only need Clinton’s keycard and access to her computer, but also her password and possibly be able to pass some biometric test, to access her email contents.
– My memory of what I’ve read suggested it was entirely normal what Clinton delegated, and that the only exposure was due to some mistake made by her legal team.

“Again, can’t help but point out the hypocrisy here. I have no idea why he would want them outside of keeping them as some sort of trophy.”
– Probably to trade to people who want such information.
– It was surely idiotic to retain them, unless he hadn’t got around to figuring out how to make copies and getting that done. Even more idiotic to not return them when requested. But then, Trump clearly is incompetent, so that is consistent.

“There are some nefarious reasons for keeping a private email server, but it’s hard to prove intent. It’s required basic cyber security training for federal employees to understand how to properly use email like this. It’s also in Sarbanes-Oxley training which is required too. Still does not pass any smell test I’d give.”
– I don’t presume to know enough about Clinton or her email situation to speculate about what reasons she might have, or what level of understanding she might have.
– The most likely reason I can imagine is probably a combination of not fully understanding the technical requirements, and perhaps thinking she didn’t need to do anything other than what she was doing, and/or relying on staff of advisers, and/or having brow-beaten staff into letting her do something they shouldn’t have, likely without either of them realizing that they shouldn’t do that.

I think it’s funny how y’all react like I’m defending Trump.

You know you kind of are. “But…but….but Hillarie’s emails!” is a common chant among trump supporters to defend the goon.

Did I react like you were defending Trump somehow? Any more than by answering your question that was literally “Can’t Trump just make the same excuse?”? And responding to your statement that “It’s really the same thing here unless he fesses up to some nefarious intent or knowledge.” – to which, again, no it really is not the same thing.

I think I’ve just been stating my perspective, and responding to what you wrote.

@Blackwater_Park You mean you were not defending The Don Father?

@Blackwater_Park there was at least 1 Chinese national that was staying at Mar-A-Lago !

You never had a Clearance, did you? ?

No, I am in no way defending him. I’m pointing out how this feeding frenzy is no different than the Clinton email scandal. It’s essentially the same thing at this point unless more information about either comes out. Yet, the tone changes in step with political position. The usual offenders don’t disappoint either.

The difference is with the email thing the right lost their minds and OMG national security is in jeopardy, with Trump the right thinks it’s no big deal and it’s all just a massive witch hunt.

@SQUEEKY2 Same thing here, just the tables are turned.

Give it time. It will happen. Proper justice takes time.