RE: the President can classify or declassify anything he wants without anyone’s approval
Ok, let’s accept that for now… here’s the main focus of the indictment — why didn’t he declassify the document he waved in front of the reporter ( by his own admission on the recording )?
And is it a crime for him to wave the classified document to a reporter ( assuming it is indeed classified )?
The ex president
can’t de - classify now
it was done previously
when he was president
before he left office
simple as that
“ And is it a crime for him to wave the classified document to a reporter ( assuming it is indeed classified )?”
Just waving it around, probably not a crime. But remember that the transcript does seem to indicate that he actually had the writer read portions of it. “Look what I found, this was Milley’s plan of attack, just read it and show…” Also, even if Trump didn’t actually show the document to anyone, but read aloud classified portions of the document, that would be the same thing.
But as I have said several times, Trump is not being charged with a crime relating to the Milley document. I think they have a different reason for including that in the indictment.