Ripping up historical records
Trump’s destruction of presidential documents is illegal and dangerous. But no one seems to care
On July 10, Politico released a story called “Meet the guys who tape Trump’s papers back together.” While the article had an almost comedic title, its contents were of a more serious nature. It relates the experiences of Solomon Lartey and Reginald Young Jr., both longtime records management analysts with the U.S. federal government.
When approached by Politico, they reported that Donald Trump regularly tore apart the presidential documents that passed through his hands. They included items such as newspaper clippings Trump had written on, invitations, and letters from constituents and lawmakers.
Staffers made arrangements to retrieve these papers, often left scattered throughout the White House, and send them to the Office of Records Management. Lartey and Young, along with their colleagues, would then piece them back together with clear tape.
Both men were terminated this spring for no clear reason other than being told that “you serve at the pleasure of the president.” Let’s put aside the fact that two men were perhaps unjustly terminated (they do not serve at the pleasure of the president), the real issue here is that Trump’s actions violate federal law. The Presidential Records Act (PRA) was passed in 1978 in response to the Watergate Scandal. Richard Nixon cited executive privilege and refused to turn over audiotapes containing his conversations, and potentially incriminating information, from his tenure in the White House.
In U.S. v. Nixon, the Supreme Court ruled that executive privilege was not all-encompassing if the requested documents were a key part of an investigation. Nixon was forced to turn the audiotapes in, and he subsequently resigned. The PRA establishes that “Presidential records” are public and require the preservation of all “documentary material” relating to the political activities of the president or his staff. These records then go to the National Archives and are eventually made accessible to the public.
Even before the PRA was passed, a president normally preserved his documents for donation to the National Archives or his Presidential Library. This process can prevent a president from keeping or destroying records that can impact future interpretations of his administration, its inner workings and policies. The Trump administration’s failure to comply with the PRA is illegal.
The irony here should be clear. Trump routinely criticizes his 2016 opponent for deleting thousands of emails she deemed personal while Secretary of State. He calls for a special prosecutor to investigate her actions. He refers to her as “crooked” and has frequently made her the subject of his tweets.
She is not the president of the United States, but he is. While occupying the highest office in the land, he fails to hold himself accountable.
Sadly, since the release of this story, it has barely made headlines. During another exhausting week filled with all things Trump, including the G7 and North Korea-United States summits, the separation of children from their undocumented migrant parents, a potential trade war with China, the revelation that New York’s Attorney General is suing the Trump Foundation, and the ongoing Mueller investigation, it’s easy to see why this news could be overlooked.
But it shouldn’t be. Aside from the president’s disregard for the law, I say this as a historian who has conducted research at the National Archives. It can be difficult to write full and accurate accounts of history when documents are missing or unavailable. The fact that this president tears up the documents that the general public has the right to access means that years from now, when historians are attempting to write on the Trump administration, we will have only the limited information that he has allowed to pass through, and of course, his tweets.
As we continue to live in a time of information overload, particularly as it relates to this administration, all of us need to assess what news is important. This news is important.
The National Archives, when asked to comment, referred this historian to the White House press office. But another Politico article revealed that in October 2017, the National Archives had warned White House lawyers that the Trump administration needed to follow laws pertaining to records preservation. The president and his staff are clearly ignoring them. Presidential records are not private property and they do not belong to the president. They belong to the public, and to history.
Hamilton-born Diana Cucuz is an instructor at Ryerson University and the University of Toronto. She holds a PhD in history.