Federal Judge Reggie Walton saw an opportunity to give media (Buzzfeed and CNN) their request for all documents from the Weissmann/Mueller investigation when President Trump wrote a tweet on October 6, 2020, re-emphasizing declassification.  Seemingly Judge Walton wanted to interpret the tweets as authority for the declassification of material underlying the Mueller probe.   As a consequence Walton asked for clarification from White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.

Mr. Meadows responded to the request from the court with a one-page statement:

(link)

Meadows affirmed that President Trump was just re-authorizing AG Bill Barr to execute the same declassification authorities previously granted on May 23, 2019.   The president’s tweets were not “orders”.   Judge Walton has scheduled a hearing for Wednesday to address the sufficiency of the White House’s response.

(October 06, 2020)

 

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