Thread by @tomiahonen

On the claim of documents being already declassified. Trump team said this in early filing that Trump had this authority - but did not claim he had actually declassified them. Now they did not raise this defense

We know he did not declassify them because he would have had to do

..because Trump would have had to do that declassification while he was President (up to noon on 20 January 2021) and then the paperwork processing of his orders would have resulted in whatever documents it was, to be processed to be declassified. No such orders exist

But now Trump attorneys have dropped this claim. I am pretty sure Trump wanted lawyers to say so in court, and they refused because of the clear case of attorney not allowed to lie to court even if their client so demands

Note the relevance. Legally it is bogus. Trump knew..

Trump knew he had not declassified those 103 stolen government secret documents before he left the White House, they would be worthless if anyone could read them online.. He NEEDED them to remain secret, for Trump to be able to sell them...

BUT the Maga believe now. They heard..

Trump's Maganutters all believe that these were declassified, or it cannot be a crime because Trump had a right to declassify them etc. This was part of what Trump needed, he needs to keep his cult #Cult45 believing Trump fairy tales