[‘Really bad things were happening’: Trump suggests that his declassifying Russia documents will expose FBI wrongdoing]Constitutionally, such actions are defensible. But the president is “eviscerating precedent and procedure,” said David Rivkin, a conservative constitutional lawyer and former attorney in the George H.W. To be sure, some national security experts defend the president’s actions as a healthy antidote to the bureaucracy, which they feel has grown too independent. [Sessions says Trump has power to pardon anyone without consulting the Justice Dept.] “Look, there is absolutely an overclassification problem in the U.S. government,” said Susan Hennessey, a Brookings Institution fellow and former lawyer in the National Security Agency Office of General Counsel.

Source: Washington Post September 29, 2018 20:26 UTC