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White House Manhunt Reportedly Underway For Trump Schedule Leaker

veritas1 said:
What I find amusing is that people think they have some right to know how Trump spends each minute of each day in the WH. Did we make the same demands of Obama?
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This is hilarious. Obama actually made his daily schedule available online and downloadable in real time with phone apps.

But you probably already knew that.
 
Mycroft said:
Congress has Constitutional oversight of everyone in the Executive Branch...including the President. We have whistleblower laws to enable Congress to be informed of possible crimes.

Your hypothetical staffer should inform Congress of Pres. AOC's actions and Congress should initiate proceedings provided for in the Constitution to deal with her actions.

Anyone leaking your hypothetical "state secrets" to the media should be prosecuted and, in my opinion, we should have laws to make it illegal for the media...in your hypothetical situation, that would be Breitbart...to receive and present those secrets to the world.

What can I say? You would applaud and glorify a person who breaks the law. I wouldn't.
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Yes, I'm not an authoritarian, so there is IMO no inherent virtue of following the law when breaking it rights a wrong, exposes criminal activity. So whether that action is worthy of prosecution and jail...depends. I would applaud them for not letting the law interfere with their duty as an American and person of principle and patriot to expose corruption that harms this country.

My example implies, and I'll make explicitly clear, that I'm in favor of laws against disclosing classified information and even charging those who break that law with a crime, even if for a 'good' cause, but there are many scenarios in which a person doing so would be a hero, not a criminal worthy of sending to jail.
 
Mycroft said:
Good. I hope they find the leaker and figuratively hang them.

I just wish they could also hang the person who received the leak.
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I know, because knowing your president is an unqualified, immature, lazy, ignorant piece of **** should be of no interest to the US citizenry!
 
Cardinal said:
It's amazing that someone so consumed with his image would do so much to openly tarnish it every day.
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It's because he doesn't feel like he is tarnishing it. He'll always think he looks great, sounds great, is great and is the smartest person in the room. He's a human **** show.
 
Mycroft said:
No. But I do have a problem with the press possessing and presenting classified or confidential government information to the public without authorization.

That should be against the law.
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So you think it was wrong for the press to report on clinton getting blown in the white house?
 
Mycroft said:
I don't think Assange enjoys any 1st Amendment rights since he's not a US citizen.

But no. I'm referring to any US news agency that knowingly receives classified or confidential government information and who knowingly presents such information to the public.
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First, as already pointed out, non-citizens are not excluded from constitutional protections.

Are you familiar with something known as "The Pentagon Papers"? Based on what you just wrote, the NY Times should have been shuttered because of their role in revealing that the Johnson administration had been lying to the public about what our involvement in Vietnam was all about. Fifty-eight thousand Americans gave their lives and countless others suffered lifelong wounds as a result of those lies. And you think it ought to be criminal for the truth to be told.

Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government. And paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people and sending them off to distant lands to die of foreign fevers and foreign shot and shell.

— Justice Black
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Mycroft said:
Do you think the 1st Amendment should shield someone for putting our country's security at risk?
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Using your “reasoning” as it relates to national security, Trump and nearly all of those people in his inner circle, starting with Conway, would be hanged.
 
JasperL said:
Yes, I'm not an authoritarian, so there is IMO no inherent virtue of following the law when breaking it rights a wrong, exposes criminal activity. So whether that action is worthy of prosecution and jail...depends. I would applaud them for not letting the law interfere with their duty as an American and person of principle and patriot to expose corruption that harms this country.

My example implies, and I'll make explicitly clear, that I'm in favor of laws against disclosing classified information and even charging those who break that law with a crime, even if for a 'good' cause, but there are many scenarios in which a person doing so would be a hero, not a criminal worthy of sending to jail.
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So...you think laws should be enforced only if public opinion says they should be enforced?
 
Mycroft said:
No. But I do have a problem with the press possessing and presenting classified or confidential government information to the public without authorization.

That should be against the law.
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Are you suggesting that there be a government office in which permission to publish is obtained? And if someone were to publish without permission, that person should be imprisoned?

Interesting concept. Perhaps we should consider it.
 
lurchadams said:
So you think it was wrong for the press to report on clinton getting blown in the white house?
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Apples and oranges.

Details of Clinton's actions were not classified or confidential. They were presented in a public court of law.
 
Mycroft said:
Apples and oranges.

Details of Clinton's actions were not classified or confidential. They were presented in a public court of law.
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BS. Clinton was denying news reports of the affair long before it was anywhere near a court. The press was making unauthorized disclosures regarding the activities of the president. Just like what we are discussing about Trump today.
 
RaleBulgarian said:
Using your “reasoning” as it relates to national security, Trump and nearly all of those people in his inner circle, starting with Conway, would be hanged.
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For what?
 
Mycroft said:
I said classified or confidential...and yes, the President's schedule is classified or confidential if he says it is. What you think doesn't mean a thing.

What a leaker's motivation might be is irrelevant. No motivation justifies breaking the law.

Are you done spouting useless, nonsensical excuses?
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Then maybe in the future he will classify it, but then it will have to be maintained on classified systems and he won't be able to keep it on his personal phone. But at the time this was leaked, the White House schedule was not classified. The President DOES have some schedules that are classified as they contain transportation information, but they are appropriately marked and maintained on classified systems. The one that was leaked was not classified. Leaking it could certainly be a fireable offense, but it isn't criminal.
 
Skeptic Bob said:
Then maybe in the future he will classify it, but then it will have to be maintained on classified systems and he won't be able to keep it on his personal phone. But at the time this was leaked, the White House schedule was not classified. The President DOES have some schedules that are classified as they contain transportation information, but they are appropriately marked and maintained on classified systems. The one that was leaked was not classified. Leaking it could certainly be a fireable offense, but it isn't criminal.
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How do you know it isn't classified?
 
Mycroft said:
Apples and oranges.

Details of Clinton's actions were not classified or confidential. They were presented in a public court of law.
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trump screwing off all day is not classified or confidential either. Thanks for proving my point. Now, you are dismissed, sir!
 
Mycroft said:
So...you think laws should be enforced only if public opinion says they should be enforced?
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No, if I meant that I'd have said it. Where did I mention that a jury should request the latest polling and cast their decision based on what the majority wants? I did say this:

So whether that action is worthy of prosecution and jail...depends. I would applaud them for not letting the law interfere with their duty as an American and person of principle and patriot to expose corruption that harms this country.
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I don't see a reference to public opinion anywhere. And the test isn't whether a law should be 'enforced' in some general sense, but whether breaking that law IN THAT CASE served a higher purpose, in this case exposing wrongdoing at the very top of our government.

The tired example of the ticking nuclear bomb is another example. "Torture" is still illegal, but if a terrorist had information that prevent a nuclear explosion that would kill 10 million people in NYC, I wouldn't convict the government agent who obtained the information by illegally torturing that suspect and saved 10 million people. If you would, good for you, but IMO it would be a travesty of justice to send someone who saved 10 million from death to jail...
 
If laying around in bed watching TV is the biggest item on your schedule, maybe don’t keep a written schedule at all?
 
Mycroft said:
How do you know it isn't classified?
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I used to be looped in on the various versions when the President had an upcoming trip to one of my AORs. My info is certainly a few years old, but classified schedules are required to be marked classified. If this schedule was classified and the leaker erased the classification markings before leaking, then that would certainly change things.
 
Mycroft said:
How do you know it isn't classified?
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There are criteria for something to be classified. If it were not so, the president could declare anything he wants to be classified, such as his tax returns, or the amount of money he had Cohen pay to Stormy Daniels. "I don't want the public to know I sit around watching TV for hours and hours every day" is not a valid reason for making a schedule classified.

It is important to have criteria for classification, if for no other reason than to maintain the legitimacy of the classifications themselves.
 
Skeptic Bob said:
I used to be looped in on the various versions when the President had an upcoming trip to one of my AORs. My info is certainly a few years old, but classified schedules are required to be marked classified. If this schedule was classified and the leaker erased the classification markings before leaking, then that would certainly change things.
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So...you don't know.

Okay.
 
Stealers Wheel said:
There are criteria for something to be classified. If it were not so, the president could declare anything he wants to be classified, such as his tax returns, or the amount of money he had Cohen pay to Stormy Daniels. "I don't want the public to know I sit around watching TV for hours and hours every day" is not a valid reason for making a schedule classified.

It is important to have criteria for classification, if for no other reason than to maintain the legitimacy of the classifications themselves.
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What is the criteria?
 
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