The Defense Department and U.S. spy agencies all answered to the President of the United States. This preposterous claim by — that the President is somehow subservient to executive branch agencies that are wholly under his authority — is exactly what I would expect to hear from useless career bureaucrats like Andrew McCarthy who have constructed a fourth branch of government out of thin air.
As President, Trump truly had the right to declassify any documents he wanted to. However, unfortunately, there is little evidence to show that he did declassify any of the documents that are cited in the indictment against him. Worse, Trump’s statements recorded on tape appear to indicate he never de-classified all the documents in his possession, which has been the core of the public defense since this story broke.
I still don’t think he’s worthy of prosecution over this, for a long list of reasons. But since the charges have been brought, he will have to defend himself before the court, and the judge. His best hope is that the charges will be thrown out, in deference to the Presidential Records Act, which the indictment didn’t even acknowledge, but that is probably a long shot.