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[link removed] [[link removed]] John,
Since Donald Trump was indicted over his handling of classified documents after he left the White House, he has continued to lie about the Presidential Records Act.
In a speech after Trump’s court appearance following his federal indictment, Trump falsely claimed that “Under the Presidential Records Act — which is civil, not criminal — I had every right to have these documents,” he also said on Truth Social that the PRA “TOTALLY EXONERATED” him, and in March in an interview with Sean Hannity, he claimed that the PRA gave him “the right to take stuff.”
John, it would be laughable if it wasn't so concerning that Donald Trump, a man who spent four years as president, is trying to claim that the Presidential Records Act actually means the opposite of what the Presidential Records Act says.
So today, we’re going to explain the law. But first, we’re asking you to make a 2X MATCHED donation to CREW to help us continue this work to hold Trump accountable → [[link removed]]If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately:
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The Presidential Records Act says that all White House records related to government business are public property, and that when the president and vice president leave office, those documents must be transferred to the National Archives for preservation.
John, long before his indictment, Trump violated the two key parts of the PRA — and both times, the National Archives and Records Administration alerted Trump’s team:
1. Presidential records must be preserved
Trump’s failure to comply with the PRA began with his long standing habit of shredding documents — at times simply leaving them on the floor of the White House. NARA’s general counsel sent a letter to White House lawyer Stefan Passantino asking just how many documents Trump tore up and raising other reported issues with records preservation.
2. Presidential records are public property
Trump failed to turn over 15 boxes of records to NARA after his presidency, including a letter from Kim Jong Un and the letter President Obama left him. CREW got records back from NARA, including an email from May 2021 from the NARA general counsel to three Trump aides pointing out “several problems” to Trump’s team. In January 2022, NARA recovered the boxes from Mar-a-Lago.
After these warnings, Trump should have known at least the basics of the PRA. Nevertheless, he held onto boxes of classified documents rather than turn them over to NARA. That alone would have been a violation of the PRA and other laws — but what he did was even worse.
Trump kept highly sensitive documents in some truly absurd places at Mar-a-Lago.
On top of that, he also allegedly showed them to civilians without security clearances (while indicating that he knew he wasn’t allowed to) and when the DOJ subpoenaed him, he indicated to his lawyers that he wanted to cover up his possession of the documents.
Trump is wrong about the Presidential Records Act, and he’s going to continue to lie about it to mislead the public and distract from the serious criminal charges he is facing from the Department of Justice.
John, we’re going to keep explaining what the law really says as long as it takes. If you support this work, help us out by making a matched donation today → [[link removed]]If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately:
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CREW
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CFC 42218
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