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.
Imagine defending the Steele Dossier in the year 2024... 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
"...our project was run in real-time. So, it was real-time reporting produced almost like a live commentary on what was happening.
That is not the way we work if we have a project over the course of several months and then produce a report at the end of that period. The Trump-Russia project wasn't that kind of project..."
I've had two near-death experiences. The first was my own fault; the second was something out of my control.
In attempting to meaningfully process those events beyond the immediately obvious reward of still breathing and draw on them as a resource that helps drive me forward into the rest of my life, I did a lot of things.
I prayed, journaled, talked to many friends and family about the experiences, read Scripture, considered how differently things could have so easily gone, and of course replayed the memories of those events in my head countless times.
"Although the defendant was the incumbent President during the charged conspiracies, his scheme was fundamentally a private one. Working with a team of private co-conspirators, the defendant acted as a candidate when he pursued multiple criminal means to disrupt, through fraud and deceit, the government function by which votes are collected and counted—a function in which the defendant, as President, had no official role...
This motion provides a comprehensive account of the defendant’s private criminal conduct; sets forth the legal framework created by [SCOTUS Presidential Immunity Opinion] for resolving immunity claims; applies that framework to establish that none of the defendant’s charged conduct is immunized because it either was unofficial or any presumptive immunity is rebutted; and requests the relief the Government seeks, which is, at bottom, this: that the Court determine that the defendant must stand trial for his private crimes as would any other citizen."
4 parts to this thing.
Section I-Preview of the case Gov't intends to prove at trial.
Section II-Overview of legal principles governing claims of presidential immunity.
Section III-Applies above legal principles to the conduct of President Trump and "establishes that nothing the Government intends to present to the jury is protected by presidential immunity."
Section IV-Relief sought by Gov't i.e. Trump is not immune from prosecution and case proceeds to trial.
Prosecutors ask Judge Cannon to slow the Routh case down and designate it as a "complex case" due to the "voluminous discovery" and the "still ongoing" status of the investigation. Defense counsel does not object.