If he declassified them, then there should be no problem publishing them...
Of course, he'll claim he did so, perhaps by sprinkling diet coke and McDonald burger crumbs on them, saying "I declassify you" and turning around three times (slowly).
Trouble is, he wasn't President any longer by that stage, so lacked the power to declassify them.
However, maybe he took them to the golf course on his last day as POTUS and yelled out from his golf buggy, "I declassify all the stuff in those boxes, you know the ones, whatever it is".
Still, I expect you have to record the fact you have declassified documents somewhere, to register their new status and alert others with access.
Ironically, his infamous, much-criticised tweet of a photo from a secret satellite of a failed Iranian rocket launch may have actually served as de facto notice of declassification, since he was potus at the time.
There's probably a case to be made that a potus really can declassify anything, regardless of whether it is subject to legislation forbidding disclosure, bearing in mind that 'declassification' is different from undisclosed handing over of restricted documents, or indeed, simply retaining them.
What mystifies me, is why he took them and retained them in the first place, then compounded this error by refusing to turn them over, despite repeated requests.
I can't see his motive, or what purpose it served, aside from wanting to stir up trouble, 'daring' the authorities to take action for the opportunity to grand-stand that would follow, as night follows day. Maybe it was just his predilection for chaos and / or just his perpetual arrogance and sense of self-importance.
The Judge approved a search warrant in relation to locating evidence of various offences. On the face of it, at least one fundamental proof of some offences was satisfied by what was found.
In the normal course of events, briefs alleging those crimes would be prepared, and relevant charges laid.
Of course, there are other considerations. "I have never seen those documents before, and if I have, I declassified them. I didn't put them there and have no idea who did,...the safe combination is usually written on a post-it note stuck to the safe...or it could have been Melania...or anyone of the billions of people who are not me for that matter...ya gotta admit, there's a lot of people out there, am I right, and so huh, case closed, right...?"
Still, charging an ex-potus would be a ballsy move which would disturb the body politic (and certainly disturbed Trump-lovers).
