Additionally, it is likely an unconstitutional law

Posted on: August 10, 2022 at 12:55:28 CT

Trump is not the first president to seek to circumvent the PRA, or even the first to do so in order to evade congressional inquiry. As Jill Lepore recounts: Reagan sought to shield email records reflecting the Iran-contra arms deal; and George H.W. Bush’s administration destroyed telephone logs and email records that were relevant to an ongoing congressional investigation into whether Bush had ordered the State Department to search Bill Clinton’s passport records. Lloyd Cutler, who served as counsel to Bill Clinton, advised employees of the risk of disclosure under the PRA, which led some to stop keeping diaries and start using private email accounts to conduct government business. During George W. Bush’s presidency, the administration’s actions implied that all but a very narrow subset of vice presidential records were not properly considered presidential records and, when challenged on that front, the administration argued that neither the archivist nor the National Archives had any authority to review that classification determination.