Over And Over And Over And…

LITerally the Presidential Records Act was passed to *stop* the practice of presidents taking/disposing of their records however they wanted and to create a structure to transfer their ownership from private to public. Lit. Er. Al. Ly. https://t.co/UKdn2GiIaT

— Asha Rangappa (@AshaRangappa_) June 25, 2023

1) The PRA doesn’t apply to this case because it involves agency records, not Presidential ones.

2) Trump thinks (it seems) that if you put something in his hands, it is now his personal property forever.

3) Trump says now he mixed papers with his personal property, and that’s why he didn’t return it on demand. Except his lawyers, acting as his agents (i.e., on his behalf) said they’d given up everything. Which he knew was a lie, many times over. He still doesn’t have a defense, IOW. He keeps trying to invent one. It’s not working.

4) And the PRA still doesn’t apply; and it doesn’t exonerate him from violating the Espionage Act.

5) Tom Fitton is still a terrible lawyer. Especially since he’s not a lawyer.

6)

Please review the Clinton socks case. Read the judge's decision.

— Robert Overbey (@SomeCommonGuy) June 25, 2023

Let me just say (again) the “Clinton socks case” (nobody calls it that but Trump) was a FOIA case. It was a mandamus action to force NARA to force Clinton to turn over tapes he made for a book to NARA, so Judicial Watch could FOIA the tapes from the government (i.e., NARA).

Judicial Watch lost. The tapes were deemed “personal,” not Presidential, and so were exempt from turnover to NARA.

THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH TRUMP’S CASE, WHERE ALL THE RECORDS ARE AGENCY RECORDS, ALSO EXEMPT FROM PRA.

People who say “read the Clinton socks case,” haven’t. Or they didn’t understand it. It’s an opinion written for lawyers, not for an op-ed page.