Between the two articles below, the first one, the Newsmax article is correct. The second one, the CNN article is complete BS.
As a former member of the intelligence community, I can tell you this in complete certainty, something that everyone is briefed on before they are granted access to classified information.
The President of the United States is the ultimate classifying authority. Labels do not matter, security officers do not matter, no agency matters. If POTUS utters a word, or insinuates through his action that something is not classified, then it is not classified. Any method he uses to handle classified information is correct, by definition.
POTUS is the ONLY official in the U.S. Government who has this leeway. When he handed his children security clearances (a common practice, by the way) it was in effect immediately, paperwork, investigations, etc. notwithstanding. If he hands someone a classified document, they are thereby cleared to see it. If he takes something home with him, it is approved and appropriate just because he authorized it. It does not have to be in writing. Labels on documents notwithstanding.
POTUS makes the rules. If he does something outside of the rules, then the rules adjust, not the President.
When Hillary’s actions with her private email server compromised the office of the Secretary of State, she was in danger of going to jail. But when Barack Obama casually said on a talk show that he did not think she compromised national security, it took her off the hook. She could not be prosecuted after that because POTUS had said it was fine.
If POTUS wants to give the nuclear launch codes to the President of Mongolia, he has that authority. Congress may not like that, but any remedies would be political not legal.
Just thought you should know.
Trump: Power to Classify, Declassify ‘Lies Solely With the President’
