The DOJ Declares the Presidential Records Act Unconstitutional to Give Trump Cover to Destroy Evidence of Presidential Corruption and Illegality

Donald Trump’s theory of presidential power is that it is a grant of absolute authority vested in one man, answerable to no other institution. It isn’t even subject to questioning or scrutiny, which is why his Justice Department has now declared the Presidential Records Act unconstitutional—laying the legal groundwork to destroy records of his presidency and refuse to hand them over when he leaves office.

Politico reports:

The Trump administration’s abrupt declaration that the federal law governing presidential records for the past 48 years is unconstitutional is creating confusion about access to records of past presidencies, including documents that are on the verge of public release.

The Wednesday memo from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, which challenges the Presidential Records Act, appears intended to give President Donald Trump the legal leeway to destroy White House records from his current term. It also gives him legal backing to refuse to hand over any remaining records to the National Archives and Records Administration when he leaves office in 2029. …

[T]he Archives received more than 200 requests for White House records from Trump’s first term after the legal window for such requests opened on Jan. 20. The future of those requests now appears to be up in the air.

Kelly McClanahan, a lawyer pursuing several lawsuits seeking copies of records Trump took to Mar-a-Lago during his first term and the White House’s handling of several national security-related controversies, said he was incensed by the new opinion and fears the administration could begin to destroy records at any time.

To be sure, anyone as neck-deep in corruption, abuses of civil rights, and the mass killing of civilians as the Trump administration would certainly want to be able to destroy all official records of their actions. But a free society, which holds its leaders accountable, demands that they be prevented from doing so.

The Executive Watch is a project of the Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism, and its flagship publication The UnPopulist, to track in an ongoing way the abuses of the power of the American presidency. It sorts these abuses into five categories: Personal Grift, Political Corruption, Presidential Retribution, Power Consolidation, and Policy Illegality. Click the category of interest to get an overview of all the abuses under it.

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