# The 15 boxes of classified documents taken by DOJ from Trump's Mar-a-Lago **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [April 20, 2022, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-15-boxes-of-classified-documents-taken-by-doj-from-trumps-mar-a-lago/963136 "2022-04-20T19:42:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-15-boxes-of-classified-documents-taken-by-doj-from-trumps-mar-a-lago/963136/1 "2022-04-20T19:42:45Z")
Has anyone seen a detailed breakdown of that whole affair? I would assume no books have yet been published. ---
**Author:** ![DeadTreasSecretaries](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deadtreassecretaries/32/4817_2.png) [@DeadTreasSecretaries](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadTreasSecretaries)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-15-boxes-of-classified-documents-taken-by-doj-from-trumps-mar-a-lago/963136/2 "2022-04-20T19:52:44Z")
What in God’s Holy Name are you blathering about? ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-15-boxes-of-classified-documents-taken-by-doj-from-trumps-mar-a-lago/963136/3 "2022-04-20T19:54:35Z")
It’s confidential. Nothing to see here. Please move on. (How he manages again and again to get away with it is beyond me. He must have dirt on every DA and politician in the USA, including the democrats.) ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-15-boxes-of-classified-documents-taken-by-doj-from-trumps-mar-a-lago/963136/4 "2022-04-20T19:54:41Z")
Last I heard about it was from a couple of weeks ago. > **[DOJ plans to investigate boxes of records taken to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/04/07/trump-boxes-archives-investigation-maralago/)** > > The news comes as the department faces increasing political pressure to disclose its plans in the case. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-15-boxes-of-classified-documents-taken-by-doj-from-trumps-mar-a-lago/963136/5 "2022-04-20T20:34:22Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > It’s confidential. Nothing to see here. Please move on. FNORD Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-15-boxes-of-classified-documents-taken-by-doj-from-trumps-mar-a-lago/963136/6 "2022-04-20T20:39:15Z")
Hail Eris! ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-15-boxes-of-classified-documents-taken-by-doj-from-trumps-mar-a-lago/963136/7 "2022-04-21T03:02:01Z")
Question: We’ve been told that the President has the authority to declassify anything he wants, which Trump seems to have done recklessly a few times. Does the President also have the authority to classify any document he sees fit to? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-15-boxes-of-classified-documents-taken-by-doj-from-trumps-mar-a-lago/963136/8 "2022-04-21T03:15:36Z")
The President is technically the ultimate authority on what government information is or is not classified. In practice, it would be highly weird for the President to actually direct the classification status of any particular document beyond executive orders or memoranda from The Office of the President to, say, the Department of State or Department of Defense. Trump, of course, was a highly weird president that was not very concerned with precedence and decorum, or indeed behaving like an adult human being so who knows what he might do. Regardless, President Joe Biden could declassify anything deemed “Classified” by prior administrations so there is no particular reason to believe that there is a stash of classified data hanging out somewhere hiding all of Trump’s shit-stained laundry. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-15-boxes-of-classified-documents-taken-by-doj-from-trumps-mar-a-lago/963136/9 "2022-04-21T03:43:31Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Regardless, President Joe Biden could declassify anything deemed “Classified” by prior administrations so there is no particular reason to believe that there is a stash of classified data hanging out somewhere hiding all of Trump’s shit-stained laundry. Isn’t this directly contradicted by him removing boxes of records to Mar-a-Lago? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-15-boxes-of-classified-documents-taken-by-doj-from-trumps-mar-a-lago/963136/10 "2022-04-21T03:51:03Z")
I’m not sure what you mean. If Trump has sequestered official records that were not properly archived he would be in violation of the Federal Records Act, Freedom of Information Act, and other laws regarding retention, archiving, and availability of official government documents, which has nothing to do with classification status. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-15-boxes-of-classified-documents-taken-by-doj-from-trumps-mar-a-lago/963136/11 "2022-04-21T04:04:47Z")
Do you think he wouldn’t do that (including classified records)? It’s my assumption that he would. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-15-boxes-of-classified-documents-taken-by-doj-from-trumps-mar-a-lago/963136/12 "2022-04-21T04:22:20Z")
I don’t understand your question. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-15-boxes-of-classified-documents-taken-by-doj-from-trumps-mar-a-lago/963136/13 "2022-04-21T04:45:25Z")
Trump removed boxes of records to Mar-a-Lago. I don’t think he’d hesitate to declare every single thing that he doesn’t want people to see as “classified”, or to remove those things to Mar-a-Lago. And I don’t think he’d bother removing things to Mar-a-Lago unless he didn’t want people to see them. And I don’t think the illegality to which you refer would stop him. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-15-boxes-of-classified-documents-taken-by-doj-from-trumps-mar-a-lago/963136/14 "2022-04-21T05:00:14Z")
I don’t know (illegally) removing documents has to do with classification. It is clear that whatever Trump took with him would not be secured merely by classifying them (or maybe it was just a bunch of banker’s boxes full of KFC wrappers with crayon scribbles on them), and if they were classified by Presidential direction he or his functionaries understood that the succeeding president could just declassify them and make them publicly available. Trump did and does so many random, nonsensical things it is actually difficult to tell when he is engaging in deliberate corruption, when the malfeasance is merely incidental to his inherent stupidity and ignorance, and when he might actually be deliberately covering up something that isn’t even an actual crime. If you played _Clue_ with Trump it wouldn’t just be a weapon, location, and murderer, but also whether he killed the wrong person and why he retained the most incompetent legal representation to deny things he isn’t even accused of doing. His legal defense against everything seems to be to make so many incoherent and self-contradictory statements that you can’t even figure out what he is attempting to conceal. He’s like the Inspector Clouseau of political corruption, bumbling his way through corruption without realizing he could just do want he wants legally with a fraction of the trouble. I mean, this is a guy who held the most powerful executive office on the planet from which any decent criminal could make a fortune (and many have) and instead spent it pretending to drive a big rig and tell people to inject themselves with bleach. He’s an even worse at political corruption than he is at doing terrible real estate deals or running waterfront casinos into serial bankruptcy. He fails forward so fast that he actually propels himself into orbit, and leaves would-be compatriots flailing in his wake wondering why they didn’t ask for payment up front. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-15-boxes-of-classified-documents-taken-by-doj-from-trumps-mar-a-lago/963136/15 "2022-04-21T05:08:25Z")
Only fourteen of those boxes Trump took from the White House contained documents. The fifteenth one contained stolen silverware. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-15-boxes-of-classified-documents-taken-by-doj-from-trumps-mar-a-lago/963136/16 "2022-04-21T05:15:32Z")
And the bust of Lincoln. Unless they already sold it on eBay. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-15-boxes-of-classified-documents-taken-by-doj-from-trumps-mar-a-lago/963136/17 "2022-04-21T05:18:37Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > I don’t know [what] (illegally) removing documents has to do with classification. It is clear that whatever Trump took with him would not be secured merely by classifying them (or maybe it was just a bunch of banker’s boxes full of KFC wrappers with crayon scribbles on them), and if they were classified by Presidential direction he or his functionaries understood that the succeeding president could just declassify them and make them publicly available. I’m not saying removal and classification are inherently related. I’m saying IMHO it is inherently likely that Trump would throw every dumb probably pointless thing at hiding his shit-stained laundry - including declaring documents classified. The fact he’s taking away boxes of documents suggests he’s hiding things. If he tries to argue he classified them as Pres and that can’t be undone by the new Pres, that would barely rate a mention in the panoply of patently wrong legal arguments that have been raised on his behalf. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-15-boxes-of-classified-documents-taken-by-doj-from-trumps-mar-a-lago/963136/18 "2022-04-21T05:50:45Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > And the bust of Lincoln. He just took it to call attention to Lincoln’s role in the Republican party. _“Great president. Most people don’t even know he was a Republican, right. Does anyone know? A lot of people don’t know that. We have to build that up a little bit more. Let’s take an ad, let’s use one of those PACs.”_ An actual quote from Donald Trump addressing the National Republican Congressional Committee on March 21, 2017. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-15-boxes-of-classified-documents-taken-by-doj-from-trumps-mar-a-lago/963136/19 "2022-04-21T07:06:54Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Trump did and does so many random, nonsensical things it is actually difficult to tell when he is engaging in deliberate corruption, when the malfeasance is merely incidental to his inherent stupidity and ignorance, and when he might actually be deliberately covering up something that isn’t even an actual crime. If you played _Clue_ with Trump it wouldn’t just be a weapon, location, and murderer, but also whether he killed the wrong person and why he retained the most incompetent legal representation to deny things he isn’t even accused of doing. **His legal defense against everything seems to be to make so many incoherent and self-contradictory statements that you can’t even figure out what he is attempting to conceal.** He’s found the best, most solidly impenetrable defense EVAH! Just look how well it has served him during his entire life. ---
**Author:** ![tofor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tofor/32/13727_2.png) [@tofor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tofor)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-15-boxes-of-classified-documents-taken-by-doj-from-trumps-mar-a-lago/963136/20 "2022-04-21T12:29:00Z")
There were almost certainly classified documents stored at Maralago during the Trump presidency, and this was not strange nor unusual. Presidents normally have access to such things while staying at whatever place they typically get away to. None of the reporting has touched on evidence that these boxes were moved at the end of the Trump presidency or how these boxes were discovered. The idea that they were moved last minute in some kind of effort to hide something is pure speculation. Given the extremely limited set of facts we know, I still think it’s more likely that somebody in the Trump organization found the boxes and said, “Wait, we’re not supposed to still have these” and contacted the appropriate authorities to come and get them. Something that should have been done months before and which demonstrates yet again incompetence and contempt for procedures, but which doesn’t speak to some deeper more horrible awfulness than we already know about. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-15-boxes-of-classified-documents-taken-by-doj-from-trumps-mar-a-lago/963136.md?page=2)