00:02The Justice Department now says a key law governing presidential records is unconstitutional and that President Trump does not have
00:11to follow it.
00:12In a new legal opinion, the Department's Office of Legal Counsel ruled the Presidential Records Act goes too far,
00:19saying Congress cannot force the president to preserve and turn over records to the National Archives.
00:24The law has been in place since the 1970s, requiring presidents to treat official records as government property, not personal.
00:33The opinion, first reported by Axios, says the law gives Congress too much power over the presidency.
00:39Assistant Attorney General T. Elliott Geyser writing,
00:42The act establishes a permanent and burdensome regime of congressional regulation of the presidency,
00:48untethered from any valid and identifiable legislative purpose.
00:52For these reasons, the PRA is unconstitutional, and the president need not further comply with its dictates.
00:59The opinion is binding inside the executive branch, but it does not change the law.
01:04Courts or Congress would have to act for that.
01:07The decision could let the White House set its own rules for handling presidential records, something Trump has long pushed
01:14for.
01:14After leaving office in 2021, he kept documents at Mar-a-Lago, including classified material,
01:20and faced criminal charges over how they were handled.
01:23He denied wrongdoing, and a judge later dismissed the case after he returned to office.
01:28The White House says it's still preserving records and will keep its current system in place.
01:35The White House says it's still being held on the right side of the presidency.
01:36The White House says it's still being held on the right side of the presidency.
01:36The White House says it's still being held on the right side of the presidency.
01:36The White House says it's still being held on the right side of the presidency.
01:36The White House says it's still being held on the right side of the presidency.
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