One document or 500, should invoke the same response. Out of Trump, Pence and Biden, only one had the authority to declassify the documents he was in possession of. Care to guess who that was?
Depends on whether they still held office when they declassified them. If they were, then all three were authorized to declassify government documents. If they were longer in office then none of them did. When the documents were discovered only one of them had the ability to declassify them; care to guess who that was? Incidentally, it is not necessary to have possession of classified documents for the President, Vice-President or other authorized persons to de-classify them.
"How does declassification work?
Information is usually declassified through a process known as “automatic declassification” (which is, in practice, anything but automatic) that takes place after information has been classified for 25 years. However, information may be declassified sooner if it is marked with an earlier declassification date; if
the original classification authority who classified the information, their successor or supervisor, or another designated official determines that it no longer meets the standards for classification; or if the agency head or a designated senior agency official determines that the public interest in disclosure outweighs the need for protection.
The decision to declassify is made in consultation with all agencies that have an interest in the information.
As with classification, declassification is a two-step process. First, an authorized official must determine that the information no longer requires protection. Second, that determination must be communicated so that the protections are removed. Accordingly,
when a decision has been made to declassify information, it must be marked as declassified."
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/government-classification-and-mar-lago-documents I previously posted the official guidelines as last updated by President Obama, for classifying and declassifying documents which are on a government website.
Here are a couple of links you might read for a better understanding of how the government’s classification system works.
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2023/01/23/how-does-the-governments-classification-system-work/Note: the information below is not someone's opinion about who and what can be classified and declassified. This is the actual Federal regulation.Code of Federal RegulationsTitle 3 - The President
Volume: 1
Date: 2010-01-01
Original Date: 2010-01-01
Title: Order 13526 - Executive Order 13526 of December 29, 2009. Classified National Security Information
Context: 2009 Compilation - Presidential Documents. - Executive Orders.
Executive Order 13526 of December 29, 2009 EO 13526
PART 1—ORIGINAL CLASSIFICATION
Sec. 1.3. Classification Authority. (a) The authority to classify information originally may be exercised only by:
(1) the President and the Vice President;
(2) agency heads and officials designated by the President; and
(3) United States Government officials delegated this authority pursuant to paragraph (c) of this section.PART 3—DECLASSIFICATION AND DOWNGRADING
Sec. 3.1. Authority for Declassification. (a) Information shall be declassified as soon as it no longer meets the standards for classification under this order.
(b) Information shall be declassified or downgraded by:
(1) the official who authorized the original classification, if that official is still serving in the same position and has original classification authority;
(2) the originator's current successor in function, if that individual has original classification authority;
(3) a supervisory official of either the originator or his or her successor in function, if the supervisory official has original classification authority; or (4) officials delegated declassification authority in writing by the agency head or the senior agency official of the originating agency.https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2010-title3-vol1/xml/CFR-2010-title3-vol1-eo13526.xml