https://twitter.com/charlie_savage/status/1614054039167111169
leads to this link which I can be read as is or in 'reader view':
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/13/us/politics/how-classified-information-is-handled.html
tl/dr:
Does the government track the existence of every classified document?
No, the government does not.
Is the classification system enforced by criminal law?
Not directly — for the most part.
Can vice presidents declassify information?
Yes. Vice presidents have been deemed “original classification
authorities” since March 2003, when President George W. Bush altered the executive order then governing the secrecy system to bestow that power
on Vice President Dick Cheney. The current version of that order
retained that arrangement.
Does declassification matter in the current investigations?
Perhaps as a matter of political messaging, but not much as a matter of
legal substance...
Either way, none of the criminal laws the Justice Department cited in
applying for the F.B.I. search warrant for Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate
— the Espionage Act, a law against concealing or destroying official
records, and a law against obstructing an official effort — depend on
whether the information was classified.
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