By saying these things, Trump hasn’t just revealed that he is ignoring the Supreme Court’s directive. He has also opened up a new line of inquiry wide enough to drive a Tesla Cybertruck through.

Abrego Garcia’s lawyer, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, says he will now pursue answers to the many questions these admissions raise. This is doable because the federal district judge overseeing this case, Paula Xinis, has initiated discovery designed to reveal what steps, if any, the government has taken to facilitate his return, opening the way for depositions of administration officials.

“The president has now said on two occasions that he could easily bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to the United States, but he’s been told not to do so,” Sandoval-Moshenberg emailed me. “We’re going to keep moving forward with the discovery process, with document requests and depositions, peeling back layer after layer of the onion, until we find out exactly which government officials gave him that instruction.”