A federal district judge acceded to the Trump administration’s request to take back President Donald Trump’s tweets calling for declassification of all documents on the probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election. The judge ruled while scolding Trump for his careless tweets on a serious matter of national security. The judge, Reggie B Walton of D.C., was ruling on an open records lawsuit brought by news outlets and a nonprofit. (The Washington Post, October 21, 2020, by Spencer S. Hsu)
BussFeed, CNN and the Electronic Privacy Information Center had argued that Trump’s tweet had declassified the Russian investigation documents. The judge concurred earlier that the statement was unambiguous. The Trump administration claimed the tweets related to an authorization for the Attorney General to declassify documents as he reviewed intelligence activities relating to the 2016 election. (The Hill, October 21, 2020, by Celine Castronuovo)