One explanation for this reclassification that I have seen offered in a few places is that DOJ set Trump up by reclassifying it, knowing that he had a copy.
This is at least partially based on the timing of Trump's back and forth with NARA and DOJ over docs stored at MAL.
I get why pple would jump to that take, but I don't think it holds up.
Here is the timeline of the Trump-NARA-DOJ.
DOJ was already involved before this doc got reclassified.
And nowhere, that I have seen, has it been argued by DOJ or NARA that Trump had docs that were reclassified. I think they would have mentioned that in the court filings somewhere by now.
Besides, the President can and DID declassify this document. It was published.
So I do not think this would be the "Gotcha, Orange Man!" trick that a few folks seem to think it would be.
So then, why has this document been reclassified?
Clues and indicators as to why are on and in the document itself.
NSICG = National Security Information
Classification Guide
So, knowing and understanding all of this, lets read the redacted and unredacted versions again.
The doc is referencing Steele and Burrows of Orbis meeting with FBI and apologizing for running to the media with the Dossier.
Steele and Burrows say they did so because they were "riding two horses," one was the FBI and one was their client.
That client, was Hillary Clinton and they chose her.
So, to RECLASSIFY this document, something MUST be going on with either Steele, Burrows, Orbis, HRC, the FBI agents at this meeting, or a combo thereof.
We rarely perceive a person, idea, or event exactly as it is/they are—we instead make a near-automatic inference based on context, emotions, the social status we attach to it/them, and the narratives that surround it (or don't).
We make these calculations instantaneously, without prompting.
Just like we all did when we first glanced at the example above and perceived the batteries to be of differing sizes, we do the same thing to people, ideas, and events. Right? : )
🧵Former Special Counsel Jack Smith wants video of his 8-hour deposition released and continues to ask for the opportunity to testify in a public hearing.
This has been Smith's repeated request since October.
The reason it wasn't public is because House Judiciary Committee chair Rep. Jim Jordan declined to make it so.
Though he didn't rule out a future public hearing.
It would be great to get the video of the 8-hour closed-door session released and also have a public hearing.
Both sides will use it for political gain and reinforcement of their preferred narratives, so it will be annoying in that way but could also be useful...
They argue Richman's "is improper multiple times over," and "[his] Rule 41(g) motion is not a valid or meritorious motion for return of property, but instead a transparent effort to suppress evidence in the Comey matter."
"Richman does not genuinely want any property back—after all, the government merely has copies of his data."
🧵Just days after United States v. Comey was dismissed for Interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan being unlawfully appointed, Daniel Richman, who is Person 3 from the indictment in the Comey case, filed a civil case against the DOJ.
Richman wants the property seized pursuant to the four Arctic Haze search warrants that were executed on him years ago returned and/or deleted and the government to be restricted from using any of it.
The materials gathered during that investigation became the source of much of the evidence in the now dismissed Comey case, and if prosecutors are going to refile that case, they will need these materials.