Psst ... Can You Keep A Secret?

The spies said ...

What will those sitting on the fence between the political yards of candidates Biden and Trump think about this:

"U.S. intelligence agencies plan to provide briefings to former President Donald Trump this year if he secures the Republican presidential nomination, even though he faces federal criminal charges that he mishandled classified information after he left office.

The intelligence community is likely to adhere to past practices for nominees and has no plan to cancel the briefings if Trump becomes the GOP nominee, two sources with knowledge of the matter said. Scrapping the briefings for Trump could open President Joe Biden up to accusations of politicizing access to intelligence, one of the sources said.

Launched by President Harry Truman in 1952, intelligence briefings for presidential nominees are designed to ensure a smooth transition of power and to prepare a prospective commander in chief for office. The briefings are not required by law."

(NBC News: Trump to get intelligence briefings, emphasis added). I won't ask Special Counsel Jack Smith what he thinks about it because he knows the impact it will have on the citizens who plan to vote for Trump (and on Judge Cannon down in Florida).

Anyway, is 'the spoken word' a "document" or "materials" under this law?:

"(a) Whoever, being an officer, employee, contractor, or consultant of the United States, and, by virtue of his office, employment, position, or contract, becomes possessed of documents or materials containing classified information of the United States, knowingly removes such documents or materials without authority and with the intent to retain such documents or materials at an unauthorized location shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not more than five years, or both.

(b) For purposes of this section, the provision of documents and materials to the Congress shall not constitute an offense under subsection (a).

 

(c) In this section, the term “classified information of the United States” means information originated, owned, or possessed by the United States Government concerning the national defense or foreign relations of the United States that has been determined pursuant to law or Executive order to require protection against unauthorized disclosure in the interests of national security."

 

(18 U.S. Code § 1924).  The question "can you keep a secret" would seem to indicate that the spoken words and those words in the memory of a hearer are "classified information", thus, if someone merely hears "classified information" (not in the form of a paper "document") would it violate the above law?

My hypothesis is that at least this practice will "normalize" (you know ... "the new normal") giving secret classified information to those who have been criminally charged by a grand jury of citizens pursuant to the 5th Amendment ("No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury...").

Final question for this post: 

 

Will the lawyers of the accused violator of 18 U.S. Code § 1924 now argue (in the documents criminal case in Federal Court in Florida and elsewhere) that since the intelligence communities don't think that the accused is not so guilty that he need not be kept away from secret "classified information" he's not bad enough to convict?

'No brainer' or 'no biggie'?

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