He’s the president of the UNited States. The documents are his. Case closed.
Why is this all of a sudden an issue now? All presidents probably have documents.
Also, correct me if I am wrong, but didn’t he send these documents to the archivist, and they returned them to him?
You are correct. This case is governed by the Presidential Records Act, NOT the Espionage Act which they claimed to be bringing the case under. The President by law can’t commit espionage. That applies to everybody but the president.
Before 1978 every president took all the papers with him to his home. That year, the Presidential Records Act was passed to govern this. Note, that was a civil and not criminal statute. You can’t even bring a criminal case under it.
Anyway, the federal court has already ruled on what a president can take with him when he leaves office under the Presidential Records Act. Bill Clinton had tape recordings he made while in office containing some material that was top secret (it included discussions with foreign leaders, etc). When Clinton was sued for it, the federal court ruled that the president can take any and all documents with him and that this was unreviewable by anyone.
Now though under the “But Trump” doctrine, the Biden DOJ suddenly wants to argue that that’s a crime.....when its Trump.