> The president, however, can simply decide on his own to declassify anything.
There may be some confusion on this. Every classified document was produced by someone who deemed the classification based on classification guidance documents. Only the classifier or one higher up in that classifier’s chain of command (I think) can declassify it. Since the President is not in Congress’ chain of command, and the memo was produced by Congress, I am not sure the President can declassify it.
We heard wind yesterday that the President’s office said that they don’t legally have to sign off on the Congressional release for it to be released. If that is not FakeNews, it would be because of the above argument. I am no expert, plus we are in new territory.
I think I heard that if the President doesn’t sign the committee recommendation within five days, it goes to the full house for a vote who can then declassify it. Not sure if I got that right.
The President has the authority to declassify anything at his discretion.
The WH signaled his position pretty clearly in Sarah Sanders’ statement about the President wanting ‘full transparency’. He won’t object to the release of the memo.