#Trump “library” says no Twitter #DMs can be found, despite evidence he sent them
Records show that Trump's first admin opted not to save DMs in its library archives, raising questions about compliance with the #PresidentialRecordsAct.
#law #transparency #accountability
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2026/06/03/trump-library-says-no-twitter-dms-can-be-found-despite-evidence-he-sent-them/
…Despite evidence that the president did use the messaging feature, the library, a division of the National Archives & Records Administration [#NARA], told The Post that “[w]e have been unable to locate any records related to” any direct message, or DM, sent by #Trump during his first term as president.
If Trump did send #DMs & did not preserve them, he may have violated the #PresidentialRecordsAct as it has been understood for decades.
The act requires departing presidents to turn over all records “which relate to or have an effect upon the carrying out of the constitutional, statutory, or other official or ceremonial duties of the President” to NARA. This includes direct messages sent via any type of software or application.
Plans were made in the waning days of the first #Trump admin to preserve Trump’s social media activity.
#law #transparency #accountability #PresidentialRecordsAct #PRA
#NARA published a notice of intent on Jan 14, 2021, to contract with ArchiveSocial, a software company, to “capture & manage [#PresidentialRecordsAct] social media accounts.”
But David Ferriero, then the archivist of the US, in a February 18, 2022, letter to members of the #House Cmte on #Oversight & Reform wrote that the #Trump admin had “opted not to enable capture of direct messages” with the software.
The #PresidentialRecordsAct became #law in 1978 in response to Richard M. Nixon’s attempts to destroy records about his presidency after he resigned from office. The law codified that presidential communications belong to the American people once a president leaves office, & imposed requirements for preservation & access.
#NARA typically preserves such records through the libraries established by former presidents. On March 31, #Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that his presidential library would be in the “best location in Miami” & that it would also be, “most likely, a hotel, with a beautiful building underneath & a 747 Air Force One in the lobby.” [what?]
#law #transparency #accountability #PresidentialRecordsAct #PRA
While Trump’s physical library is just a “concept”, Trump’s actual papers from his first admin — the vast majority of which are digital — are now subject to #FOIA requests. The #PresidentialRecordsAct requires records not exempt from disclosure to be made public 5 years after a president leaves office. This includes records that are not classified as secret, those for which there is no attorney-client privilege & those that are not purely personal.
The next day, White House counsel David Alan Warrington issued recordkeeping guidance to White House staff members in a memo & acknowledged that he had asked the #DOJ to review the constitutionality of the #PresidentialRecordsAct. Warrington’s memo said that, according to the opinion, White House offices were “free to” — but not required to — “retain the records retention policies developed under the [Presidential Records Act].”
The most striking departure from existing White House policy involved text messaging: “Text messages should only be preserved when they are the sole record of official decision-making, government action, or contain unique information not available elsewhere.” Warrington wrote that while “the broad & unconstitutional text of the #PRA certainly suggests that” preserving texts is required, “[c]omplying with such a requirement would be immensely time consuming & costly.” [nope]
…Despite the no-records response to The Post’s request for #DMs sent by #Trump, there is evidence that Trump communicated through DMs on #Twitter.
Court records show that Twitter produced at least 32 DMs sent to or from the @realDonaldTrump account between October 2020 & January 2021 in response to a warrant sought by special counsel Jack Smith as part of his investigation into Trump’s role in the #insurrection at the US Capitol on #Jan6, 2021.
American law no longer applies when America no longer exists.
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EDIT: I do not believe that all is lost, and I don't want to promote despair and defeatism. But it's probably good to provide an occasional slap in the face of the complacent optimists, with a brutally honest view of the present situation. Many, many good Americans are still fighting, and using their wits. We must all join them!
Thanks for your informative posts, Nonilex!
Nonilex
crouton
Roy -- the dull one
Lawrence
Jack's Countless Lack of Cool