Coalition Reminds White House To Maintain Presidential Records

Press release from the AG's Office:

Dec. 16, 2020

Attorney General William Tong today joined a multistate coalition of 15 attorneys general from around the nation in calling on the Trump Administration to comply with the Presidential Records Act and the Federal Records Act. In a letter to White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, the coalition reminds Cipollone that all staff in the Executive Office of the President — which includes President Donald Trump — must comply with the law and take all necessary steps to preserve and maintain presidential records, including tweets, notes of private conversations, and emails from private servers improperly used to conduct government work.

“Records Act compliance is not optional. White House staff have been warned by their own counsel that failure to properly preserve these records—including tweets, transcripts, and government business on private email servers—may be subject to disciplinary action, or criminal or civil sanctions,” said Attorney General Tong.

Since the beginning of the Reagan Administration — 40 years ago next month — the Presidential Records Act has dictated the statutory structure under which presidents must manage the records of their administrations. The law says that the American people “retain complete ownership, possession, and control of Presidential records.” Additionally, since 1950, the Federal Records Act has set guidelines as to how federal departments and agencies preserve and manage archived records.

But, the Trump Administration has taken numerous actions displaying an utter disregard for their duties to properly preserve records, including:

• President Trump concealing details of his conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, including on at least one occasion taking possession of the notes of his own interpreter and instructing the linguist not to discuss what had transpired with other administration officials, according to The Washington Post.

• President Trump tearing up presidential documents, requiring a records management analyst to tape back together documents that were supposed to be preserved, according to Politico and The New Yorker.

• Presidential Advisor Ivanka Trump’s use of a private email server to send hundreds of emails to other government officials about business affecting the American people, according to The Washington Post.

• Presidential Senior Advisor Jared Kushner’s use of a private email server that was used to communicate with other government officials about business affecting the American people, according to Politico, as well as his use of the messaging app WhatsApp to communicate with foreign leaders and other foreign government officials, according to CNN.

In today’s letter — led by New York Attorney General Letitia James — the coalition reminds the White House counsel that President Trump and all White House staff — which includes anyone in the Executive Office of the President — must comply with the Presidential Records Act and the Federal Records Act. The coalition also asks for the White House counsel to confirm compliance with this request before the inauguration of President-elect Joseph Biden on January 20, 2021.

Joining Attorneys General Tong and James in sending today’s letter to the White House are the attorneys general of Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon, Virginia, Washington, and the District of Columbia.

This press release was produced by the AG's Office. The views expressed here are the author's own.