When speaking about the Trump v. Biden classified documents issue, some contend the former is guilty (like the latter) because a president has to take specific and explicit action to declassify the material while in office. However, that is not true, because as chief executive a president decides all actions with respect to executive authority, and nothing in his administration is ever classified with respect to him. That would be nonsensical on a constitutional basis. Rather, he has plenary power to declassify anything gathered by his branch in any way at any time, ad hoc and immediately and with no formality required whatsoever, and often does (e.g. with foreign ambassadors and heads of state) on the fly as it suits him. So if he has that authority when dealing with foreign leaders he certainly has it for himself.
Rob Kerchner
Santa Clarita
