Let's get right to the point: The Department of Justice and the Attorney General Merrick Garland need to get national security experts, The Joint Chiefs and leaders of both parties in a secure room to review the documents and have them explained to them so that it's unequivocal as to what the former president was storing at his home.
Then those same individuals need to figure out how to tell the American people without compromising national security. And when we say individuals, we're talking serious people, not bomb-throwers. And though Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD) is not one of the latter, he is not a leader as he oviscated on his answers with regard to the former president having not only having classified, but classified/special compartmentized information, the most sensitive to national security, in his possession in the first place.
The 'pending' question of whether the president can declassify the documents or not is immaterial because even if they're not classified, they do not belong to him. They belong to the United States government. That aside, and for the sake of argument, if the documents are classified/SCI the president can not simply say they are declassified and that's it. It can not be done be decree, but first with review from several intelligence agencies to make certain that sources and methods can not be revealed.
But these are the dumb questions that the former president makes us ask because of the double standard that Republican politicians have assisted in creating, because of a shrinking yet increasingly violent supporter base.
A lawyer for the former president signed a written affirmation that there were no more classified documents at the Palm Beach residence and that turned out to be false. If it's anyone else, anyone, there are three words in your future: Search. Warrant. Lawyer. So by that measure, the Department of Justice and specifically the Attorney General did the right thing.
Senator Rounds did say that there are a lot of questions to be answered, in his signature Dakota gentlemanly tone, and we'd agree with that. We think we're just a bit more patient, but on heels of this discussion, he stated unequivocally that South Dakota is ready for Mr. Trump to annouce another run. As scary a prospect that it is, it's a matter of when, not if. However, his point is taken that inflation is still high and the people of his state and around the country are dissatisfied with that, no doubt.
The Cook Political Report's Amy Walter had an interesting take in terms of which party has motivation going into the midterms explaining that the Republican base is already motivated and the events of this past week aren't going to make it any more so. She also said that the events of the week put Trump on the midterm ballot motivating Democrats more who are gaining in the generic polling against Republicans. As it looks the Republicans will take the House, but the Senate, which Republicans really want is as of right now, unrealistic. Eugene Robinson buttressed the explanation, saying that it only reminds everyone of the chaos that the Trump years wrought on the country and people don't want to return to that. The choice becomes starker.
And yes, Congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-WY) is going to lose her seat in Wyoming, but as Andrea Mitchell pointed out, the state has one congressperson, which is like a senator to them, and if the state's congressperson doesn't have support of leadership then the return on investment for the state is less.
However, as we've said before, Ms. Cheney isn't done in politics, and as Matthew Continetti predicted, if she loses her congressional seat you'll see her next on a debate stage opposite Mr. Trump.
We so hope he's right.
Panel: Betsy Woodruff Swann, Politico; Amy Walter, Cook Political Report; Eugene Robinson, The Washington Post; Matthew Continetti, American Enterprise Institute; Michael Beschloss, Presidential Historian
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