Is he suggesting that sometimes law enforcement might raid a house, or even raid the wrong house, based on improper paperwork? That’s unpossible.
Or maybe he meant it was a ‘paperwork error’ as in ‘trump made an error by keeping all that paperwork’.
FBI Search and Seizure at Trump's Mar-A-Lago Residence, August 8, 2022, Case Dismissed July 15, 2024
I am more concerned about the empty folders than the remaining documents. Where are the contents?
What are Moscow and Pyongyang, Mayim?
43 EMPTY CLASSIFIED FOLDERS, Y’ALL!
Well, at least one plausible explanation is that those were the documents that were actually returned in the earlier delivery.
Of course there are more nefarious/concerning explanations as well.
They never dreamed there would be an FBI search. They thought they could jerk the DOJ around indefinitely.
If 43 empty folders doesn’t establish probable cause to search the rest of his properties, I don’t know what would.
Should be probable cause now to search his other properties.
Regardless of the contents, does the fact that the folders are marked ‘classified’ make the folders themselves classified?
Like, if your mom finds a pack of cigarettes in your sock drawer, she’s really not going to care that it’s empty. You’re still getting in trouble.
No. Classified cover sheets are not classified. You need them when working with classified files that you remove from storage, though. So you open the safe, grab a document, grab an empty folder from the stack of empty folders, and put it in it so your classified isn’t sitting out on a desk for anyone to gander at when they walk by. The existence of empty classified folders doesn’t mean anything, nothing more than the existence of empty manila folders in a regular office would mean. It’s an office supply item, just one specialized for a SCIF.
More clarification on this issue:
Pt 2:
Also, they may have contained the unfoldered documents retrieved earlier:
Look, I’m a nobody, but I’ve worked in a SCIF and I can assure you that whoever’s informing Bradley P Moss is either wrong or something’s getting garbled in translation. You do not need to document the act of putting something classified into, or removing it from, a folder. It’s just a folder.
In the NARA referral, “unfoldered” means “without an appropriate cover sheet,” which is a no no. Mixing classified and unclassified documents is a no no. But the cover sheet doesn’t have to be a folder, and something doesn’t need a cover sheet (or folder) if it’s properly stored.
eta: We didn’t work with folders a lot but it’s exactly the sort of thing I’d expect a presidential briefing to use. You’ve got 20 people coming in for a classified briefing so you’d print off 20 copies of your slides, pop each copy into a folder with a proper cover sheet. When the briefing’s over you burn or otherwise destroy all the copies and put the folders back in the supply closet.
Suppose the cover sheet also includes a six-letter noun?
Bradley Moss is a current partner in the one of the nations top law firms re: national security issues. I’m gonna still listen to him, if that’s fine with you, Steronz.
Why did he need a “government source” to tell him basic classified document handling facts if he’s such a hot shot?
Classified handling rules aren’t classified, so I’m sure someone can find a cite saying backing up his claim, right? Because I can’t.
Still gonna cite him, man. If he retracts, I’ll cite that too. 
Folders???
Is this 1979?
Who uses paper folders anymore? We print documents and shred or recycle the paper afterward.
For meetings we might put them in clear binders. Or just staple.
They’re filed on the Server.
I get your point, but obviously, a lot of folders are being used everyday across the U.S.
I have around 5 on my desk right now.
Eh, I put the question out there. Let’s see if he, or anyone, responds:
Looking through the detailed list, some things that I note:
- A significant part of Trump’s presidency seems to have been devoted to reading magazines. If he also spent as much time watching TV as is reported then we can probably all be thankful that, after all that, he didn’t have the free time to do anything else.
- The FBI/DOJ does not list any non-governmental documents except books and magazines, which could imply that there was nothing like the Trump Organization’s financial documents. That said, we know that the filter team found and returned passports and attorney-client privileged materials - neither of which is listed in this inventory. This inventory seems to be a) government property, and b) items that are legally irrelevant to anything. Possibly, it’s the stuff that the government has decided to keep - the magazines establish the time period that the documents in the box were generated - but then it’s a mystery why they mention books and articles of clothing. Why aren’t they returning those? Ultimately, I’m not convinced that this is a complete list. I’m not sure that the judge will notice but I think they’re trying to pull a fast one on her in some way. They should have given her a redacted list, if they want to hide some of the stuff that they found.
- The grand jury subpoena was only for classified materials, not all materials covered by the PRA. Looking at the list, where the boxes aren’t mostly magazines, they’re mostly non-classified documents. Finding everything would have really required taking every box apart and going through item by item. Really, the only item that doesn’t follow this rule is Item #1, found in Trump’s office - which could have been some paper that fell behind a couch or something. The inventory does not give the sense that Trump was cribbing from secret documents on a daily basis. It better supports the idea that he threw a bunch of stuff together and couldn’t be bothered to go through it all, properly.