Trump is not a legislator engaged in legislative speech or debate

Republican Rep. Thomas Massie decided that the best way to support Donald Trump was to tweet that "under the Constitution, no member of Congress can be prosecuted for reading aloud on the floor any of the documents Trump allegedly has copies of." Naturally, people jumped on this. So let's be clear:

First, he is correct. The leading Speech or Debate precedent arises from a Senator and his aide reading portions of the Pentagon Papers at a subcommittee meeting and entering 47 volumes into the public record. The Court said "[w]e have no doubt that Senator Gravel may not be made to answer either in terms of questions or in terms of defending himself from prosecution -- for the events that occurred at the subcommittee meeting." That principle applies, even more so, to events on the House floor.

Second, what is Massie's point? The Speech or Debate Clause speaks of Senators and Gravel extends protection to senatorial aides; Trump is neither. And Gravel held that immunity did not protect possession publication of the papers outside of the legislative process--such as in bathrooms at Mar-a-Lago or conversations with reporters in New Jersey. So whatever Massie can do on the House floor is irrelevant to whether Donald Trump mishandled classified documents.

Maybe Massie knows that. He definitely knows that Trump supports do not know that. And that is the point.