A federal judge ordered on Friday ordered the White House Counsel’s Office to get a statement from President Trump regarding his tweeted order to declassify all records, without redactions, relating to 2016 Russian interference, Politico reports.

News outlets have sued, using the Freedom of Information Act, to gain access to unredacted records, including the Mueller Report.  Justice Department officials have argued that Trump’s statement was not meant to be an order, although Trump has used his personal Twitter account to announce policy and the hiring/firing of Administration staff.

I have fully authorized the total Declassification of any & all documents pertaining to the single greatest political CRIME in American History, the Russia Hoax. Likewise, the Hillary Clinton Email Scandal. No redactions! https://t.co/GgnHh9GOiq

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 7, 2020

U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton for the District of Columbia, a George W. Bush appointee, stated that explanations from junior White House attorneys were not sufficient to undermine a clear order from Trump.

“I think the American public has a right to rely upon what the president says about what his intent is,” said Walton in a phone conference. “It seems to me that when a president makes an unambiguous statement of what his intent is, I can’t rely upon White House counsel saying, ‘Well, that was not his intent.’ Maybe White House counsel talked to the president. Maybe they didn’t, but I can’t tell.”

A Justice Department attorney argued that government lawyers’ arguments should be taken as the position of the White House, but Walton disagreed.

“How do I know that the statements made by White House counsel are in fact the position of the president? … How can I assume White House counsel is, in fact, acting at the direction of the president? How can I assume that?” Walton asked.

Walton referred to a statement Trump made while on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show last Friday:  “I’ve fully declassified everything. Everything’s been declassified. They have so much information.”

That statement, and Trump’s tweet, amount to an admission by Trump that all those records have been declassified, which should allow access to the information.