Obama created an executive order. It states that:
All records the President receives are subject to his control. (And to me, this means he controls ALL records from the moment he is President until the moment he is no longer President.
So, per Obama's E/O it can be shown that President Trump had a clear basis for believing he had the authority to possess copies of records stored at the DOD. (In spades because he is the Executive Officer and the CIC !!!!)
Therefore per Obama's E/O Trump cannot be charged with retaining records “without authorization,” “willfully,” and “knowingly,” because the Obama E/O gives control of all records to Trump. Smith's case just evaporated. Now the question is criminal culpability on the part of those who authorized the raid.
You are 100% correct. The author muddies up his points by talking about DoD possession of the docs. The real point of the article is that Obama’s E.O. supports Trumps BELIEF that he had authority to possess the documents he had at M-a-L:
“Further, because of the PITC memo’s aggressive posture that all records the President receives are subject to his control, President Trump had a clear basis for believing he had the authority to possess copies of records stored at the DOD. It would, therefore, be impossible for Trump to have retained records “without authorization” and “willfully” and “knowingly,” as the Jack Smith indictment suggests.”
For Trump to be guilty, he has to have had intent to violate the classified documents laws. I’m not sure I’m as convinced as the author, but it’s worth consideration.