re: #86 raina
yep it appears that way to me too. A pre-CYA.
I’m thinking it was an honest question. The material he asks about was confusing and looked like it put EOs and federal law at the same level. Now that he needs some sort of justification for blowing town to Moscow he uses it to say “see, I really did try to tell them!”. Or, you know, not really, since we can read it now.