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The Justice Department now says a key law governing presidential records is unconstitutional and that President Trump does not have to follow it
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In a new legal opinion, the Department's Office of Legal Counsel ruled the Presidential Records Act goes too far
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saying Congress cannot force the president to preserve and turn over records to the National Archives
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The law has been in place since the 1970s, requiring presidents to treat official records as government property, not personal
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The opinion, first reported by Axios, says the law gives Congress too much power over the presidency
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Assistant Attorney General T. Elliott Geyser writing, The act establishes a permanent and burdensome regime of congressional regulation of the presidency
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untethered from any valid and identifiable legislative purpose. For these reasons, the PRA is unconstitutional, and the president need not further comply with its dictates
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The opinion is binding inside the executive branch, but it does not change the law
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Courts or Congress would have to act for that. The decision could let the White House set its own rules for handling presidential records, something Trump has long pushed for
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After leaving office in 2021, he kept documents at Mar-a-Lago, including classified material, and faced criminal charges over how they were handled
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He denied wrongdoing, and a judge later dismissed the case after he returned to office
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The White House says it's still preserving records and will keep its current system in place
