Kash Patel, the conservative gadfly who Zeliged his way onto Devin Nunes’s staff, to White House advisor, then to chief of staff to the Defense Secretary and finally to become a child groomer, reportedly testified before the grand jury investigating Donald Trump’s illegal possession of government documents, including some classified documents, at his Florida tax haven and fan club headquarters, Mar-a-Lago, CNN reports.
A one-time White House staffer during the Trump administration, Patel has claimed in public statements that he was aware of a standing order Trump supposedly issued that automatically declassified documents he removed from the West Wing. Such a practice would not hold up because people responsible for declassifying the documents would not know what exact documents Trump took his residence.
Trump himself has claimed he had a standing order declassifying documents in his possession. Patel’s testimony would likely shed light on how this myth started, and more importantly, when–as in if the story was concocted after Trump left office.