Thread by @bradheath

Once again, DOJ shows up in court to tell a federal judge that President Trump had not actually done the thing he said on Twitter: "The department has not received a declassification order from the President."

https://twitter.com/JasonLeopold/status/1316121816130174976

DOJ says it was told by the White House counsel that "the President's statements on Twitter were not self-executing declassification orders and do not require the declassification of any particular documents."

So Trump's lawyers say this was hot air ->

https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1313640512025513984

This is at least the second time that this particular DOJ official has declared under oath that the President's claims that he had declassified a bunch of records related to the Russia investigation were nonsense. ->

DOJ's argument that the president's public statements aren't necessarily true -- or here, are outright false -- and can't be relied on isn't one I'd seen before 2017. Now it makes that argument pretty regularly.

Evergreen from @ganjansen: The Justice Department has repeatedly - and successfully - told judges that President Trump's tweets on matters of national security are not always to be taken literally, or trusted.

usatoday.com/story/news/pol…