A few things I do not understand about the Biden documents controversy?

[kentuck]

He is the Commander-in-Chief, right?

He has a right to classify or de-classify any documents that might be in his possession, it seems to me?

Why did he not look for the documents himself, and then report to the DOJ that he is turning over the documents to the Archives, and that he did not feel the need to de-classify any of the documents at this time?

If he wants, he can ask for those same documents back from the Archives tomorrow, if he is the Commander-in-Chief? Is that not right?

It seems to me that, with the help of a media frenzy, much more was made of this controversy than should have been.

Just my opinion.

[Sneederbunk]

1. It's not a legal thing. It's a political egg on face thing.

[kentuck]

2. I suppose you might be right.

[Clash City Rocker]

3. No, it's a Republican double standard thing

Most recent presidents have left classified documents when leaving office. The last exception, I believe, was Jimmy Carter. All of them, when they realized that fact, returned the docs, except Trump, who ignored requests to return the documents, then ignored a subpoena.

[Mister Ed]

4. A quick note about that "Commander in Chief" title.

The Constitution makes the president Commander in Chief of the armed forces, not Commander in Chief of Everything. People tend to misunderstand and misconstrue that title.

That said, though, the president, as head of the Executive Branch, does indeed have the authority to declassify any document. There's a procedure for that, and once the procedure is completed, Biden can certainly repossess any of those documents. What he can't do is retroactively declassify documents, as Trump claims to have done. Upon the discovery of the documents, he couldn't just say, "I hereby declare thee declassified!" and make everything okay.

And finally: yes, I certainly agree: much, much more has been made of this than should have been.

[Pobeka]

5. It's not that he had docs, it's how it was handled once discovered.

There are probably a thousand or so classified docs crossing the VP's path in a term. That a few get shuffled into the wrong folder is understandable.

Did he take whole boxes of classified docs with him when he left? Apparently not.
Did he immediately report finding the classified docs when they were discovered? Apparently yes.
Did he deny possession of the docs once they were found? Nope.
Did he interfere with any process of NARA or DOJ in searching or investigating how it could have happened? Nope.

No wrongdoing here.