Attorneys working for special counsel Jack Smith said Trump's reading of the PRA was incorrect and relied on the mistaken view that “as a former president, the laws of the country and the principles of accountability that govern other citizens do not apply to him.”
The lawyers wrote that the items Trump allegedly took from the White House were “definitely presidential, not personal,” and even if Trump designated the material as personal, the PRA does not apply to classified information found at Mar-a-Lago. His Florida home and private club.
“Nothing in the PRA leaves the President free to make unilateral, unreviewable, and permanently binding decisions to remove presidential records from the White House to overturn the operation of the PRA. They are protected for the people of the United States,” said the 29-page document. The filing says.
Smith's team categorically rejected Trump's claim that the archives' involvement in the initial effort to retrieve presidential records could not result in judicial criminal charges. Trump has not been criminally charged with violating the PRA, and prosecutors said “none of that civil remedy precludes the application of criminal statutes governing overlapping conduct.”
“Total coffee junkie. Tv ninja. Unapologetic problem solver. Beer expert.”