Actually, the PRA guarantees access to his presidential records and doesn’t differentiate between classified and unclassified. Most ex-presidents retain their security clearances after leaving office, so unless he was stripped of his, I would think he still has it, but I could be wrong.
But you give a good summary of the indictment and what is alleged. Everyone is fixated on the tape as if undermining some aspect of that will blow up the case, but most of the case has nothing to do with that call. I think it was included primarily to make it difficult for Trump to claim he didn’t know the documents he was sharing were classified, or claim that he had previously declassified them. It could also be to establish intent (knowingly sharing classified data) which is a necessary component of the Espionage Act charges as I understand it. That was the excuse they gave to let Hillary skate, claiming they couldn’t show intent.
A president doesn’t get cleared for accessing any classified information. He doesn’t have a security clearance per se, so there’s nothing to pull after a president leaves office. Biden said he was cutting off any security briefings that would normally be given to a former president.
I found this, but I make no claims to its accuracy, but this frames what I’m saying about security clearance re: presidents. https://fas.org/publication/clearances-presidential/
“I think it was included primarily to make it difficult for Trump to claim he didn’t know the documents he was sharing were classified, or claim that he had previously declassified them. It could also be to establish intent (knowingly sharing classified data) which is a necessary component of the Espionage Act charges as I understand it.”
Yes, this is the only reason that it’s included. It doesn’t even matter if he has any such document or if he was making everything up to make a point to the ghost writer who was recording. It just shows that he knows there is some barrier to his sharing secrets now that he was no longer president.