There’s a point that I’ve wanted to make for a while about the fact that Donald Trump would not have officially, previously-declared the documents he has at Mar-a-Lago because it wasn’t in his best interest to do so, but I couldn’t quite figure out a way to explain it.  Luckily, former FBI Special Agent Asha Rangappa has a way with words.  And a Twitter account.

The fact that Trump never formally declassified anything, and also never raised it to DOJ, but is asserting it (unofficially) now, is actually an incredibly damning admission by Trump. That’s because it means that he wanted these secrets to still have value. As I noted in a previous tweet, had Trump formally declassified these secrets, he would have had to notify all the agencies responsible for the respective intel. They, in turn, would have taken steps to protect methods and sources. Why? Because it would no longer be secret.  If you *really* think something should be public, then you want to take steps to protect the sources of the intel before you release it. But Trump claims he did it secretly. That means he *intentionally* wanted to leave these sources and methods exposed.  Why would you want that? Only if you wanted the secrets to have value to someone. Similarly, if he had asserted declassification to DOJ, they ‘d ask, “Which ones?” He’d have to show what he had. Again, once the USG knows, the secrets get protected, i.e. no value as “secrets.”  Of course, he conveniently trots out the claim that he “declassified” them know — once he is found out. The gig is up, so now he thinks it’s a shield. But you only secretly “declassify” if you want secrets to remain valuable while giving yourself “cover” if you get discovered.

That’s the thing I couldn’t really get my head around:  Trump didn’t want the documents declassified because he knew that in doing so, agencies would protect their methods and sources.  What Trump really wanted was those documents to have value when/if he decided to use them to get leverage, money or power from someone.  If the sources were further protected, it would useless to whoever bought came into possession of it.