'Hillary Clinton's Head Is Exploding': CNN's Jake Tapper Misses The Broader Point About Trump's Classified Documents Scandal

Jake Tapper, the host of CNN's 'The Lead' show, proceeded to comment about comparisons between how former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton handled classified documents and how Trump did with respect to housing allegedly classified materials in his Mar-a-Lago home. 

According to Breitbart News, the exchange between Mr. Tapper and a former Department of Justice official about this comparison was made in the following terms. Tapper opened up by saying "Can I just note somewhere Hillary Clinton’s head is exploding. One of the reasons that Donald Trump is president is because Republicans successfully made the argument that Hillary Clinton, as secretary of state, was cavalier and did not take seriously enough the classification process for her home email server."

Tapper proceeded to comment how "I’m not saying it’s a wrong argument, we covered it, we took it seriously, it was mocked by liberals but that was one of the reasons Donald Trump is president... Literally, they were yelling at the Republican National Convention ‘lock her up’ about this exact issue. I mean, obviously, he’s the president, she’s the secretary of state. Different but is there any substantive difference here?"

Tom Dupree, a former DOJ official under President Bush, unhelpfully said "Not a lot. It’s all nuance and fact, all trying to draw fine distinctions that will be lost on most people. One of the interesting things here is I can’t think of another time in our history where the National Archives has become one of the key suppliers to a grand jury investigation. That just doesn’t happen. Another unique aspect of the Trump era." 

The problem with this remark that there is little "substantive difference" between the cases is that it obscures a key fact. The president has broad authority to classify and declassify documents as he (or she) wills. Since classification is a process entrusted to the executive branch, it would be absurd if the head of that branch, the president, did not have control over this process or if the unelected bureaucracy could override their elected boss in such matters. 

This is not rank theoretical speculation either, since cases have been tried in court. In the Judicial Watch v. NARA (2012) decision, the judge in the case basically ruled that the president when in office enjoys non-reviewable, completely vested discretionary authority to determine how to classify documents and whether the Presidential Records law even applies. 

The American Bar Association similarly admitted that "as an ABA Legal Fact Check posted Oct. 17 explains, legal guidelines support his [Trump's] contention that presidents have broad authority to formally declassify most documents that are not statutorily protected, while they are in office." They even when so far as noting that "the extent of a president’s legal authority to unilaterally declassify materials — without following formal procedures — has yet to be challenged in court."

In contrast, such broad powers as that of a president over classification do not extend to his underlings such as a secretary of state. Perhaps this fact would, to borrow and augment Tapper's phrase, make Hillary Clinton's head metaphorically explode a bit more.