The biggest flaw in Trump's latest defense in classified docs case

[LetMyPeopleVote]

TFG's claims on the Presidential Records Act are so sad that they are funny. I was amused when TFG claimed that the National Archives could only ask pretty please and cited the NYT. As is normal, TFG is too stupid to understand what the NYT article actually stated.

TFG made some comments that appear to show what his defense will be. This defense was in the scripted portion of TFG's speech which seems to indicate that this may be part of a planned defense to be used in his trial.

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/biggest-flaw-trump-latest-defense-classified-docs-case-rcna91140

There is no such law. But just as notable was the rest of Trump’s pitch:

“Even The New York Times, in a major article — big article, they must hate, probably the writer was fired after he said this — but it said that when it comes to asking for documents from former presidents, the only power that NARA has is to say, pretty please. ‘Asking nicely is about all they can do.’ And yet, they reported me to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution. They don’t even have the right ask — and if they do ask, they have to be very nice, and I don’t have to give it.”

......It’s true that in the second paragraph of the piece, the Times explained to readers that officials at the Archives have limited powers: “Asking nicely is about all they can do.”

But Team Trump probably should’ve read the third and fourth paragraphs, too, because they explained that while NARA doesn’t have an ability to enforce its requests, after "asking nicely," Archives officials can turn to the Justice Department to ensure that laws are properly enforced. NARA can't require people to follow the law, but prosecutors can.....

The “absolute right” to ignore relevant laws, which Trump pointed to in his scripted comments, does not exist.

If this is the defense he and defense attorneys plan to take to court, they will have to hope the jury is made up of Republican donors wearing red caps, reading right-wing blogs on their phones during the trial.

If this is TFG's best defense, this will be a short trial. The DOJ had an absolute right to issue subpoena for the records and to follow the subpoena with a search warrant.

[republianmushroom]

1. 29 months and counting

[gratuitous]

2. The National Archive doesn't have investigative and enforcement arms

It shouldn't have to, at least with former public officials who know their obligations under the law. Which of course lets the defendant out.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. Fact check: Trump falsely claims Presidential Records Act requires prolonged 'talk, talk, talk'

CNN did a fact check on TFG's lies about Presidential Records Act

Link to tweet

https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/29/politics/fact-check-trump-presidential-records-act-talk/index.html

Facts First: Trump’s claims are false. The Presidential Records Act says that, the moment a president leaves office, NARA gets custody and control of all presidential records from his administration. Nothing in the act says there should be prolonged “talk” or a negotiated “agreement” between a former president and NARA over a former president’s return of presidential documents – much less that there should have been a months-long battle after NARA first contacted Trump’s team in 2021 to try to get some of the records that had not been handed over at the end of his presidency.

Jason R. Baron, former director of litigation at NARA, told CNN in an email on Tuesday: “The former President is simply wrong as a matter of law. As of noon on January 20, 2021, when President Biden took office, all presidential records of the Trump Administration came into the legal custody of the Archivist of the United States. Full stop. That means no presidential records ever should have been transferred to Mar-a-Lago, and there was no further talking or negotiating to be had.”

Timothy Naftali, a CNN presidential historian, New York University professor and former director of the Richard Nixon presidential library, described Trump’s claim as “nonsense” and said the former president’s description of the Presidential Records Act is “a matter of fantasy,” concocted to allow Trump to “pretend that he’s a victim.”

The act, Naftali said in a Tuesday interview, makes clear that documents Trump had at Mar-a-Lago are presidential records that legally belong to the public and are legally required to be in NARA’s custody. The act provides “no room for debates and discussions between presidential advisors and the National Archives at the end a presidency” about such records, Naftali said.