I'm posting this in the humor thread because there is a ton of untrue statements. Statements I have made (this is NOT copied from somewhere else, this is my original posting) to illustrate the point that Trump defenders have it 100% wrong in the case of "Judicial Watch vs. NARA" The Right Wing is trying to make claims that the ruling in "Judicial Watch vs. NARA" allows a President to declare ANYTHING that crosses his desk as a "Personal Record" and once, having done that, it is unreviewable by the courts (or anyone else). Specifically they hone in on the line from the ruling... We need to be 100% clear on what this means, and it's not what the RWers would have people believe. Earlier in the ruling Judge Jackson also said this... Enacted in the wake of controversy surrounding the disposition of President Richard M. Nixon's Presidential records, the Presidential Records Act of 1978 (“PRA”), 44 U.S.C. §§ 2201–2207 (2006), governs the preservation and disclosure of Presidential records. The PRA defines “Presidential records” as: [D]ocumentary materials, or any reasonably segregable portion thereof, created or received by the President, his immediate staff, or a unit or individual of the Executive Office of the President whose function is to advise and assist the President, in the course of conducting activities which relate to or have an effect upon the carrying out of the constitutional, statutory, or other official or ceremonial duties of the President. She is VERY clear hear that the Presidential Records Act defines what is a "Presidential Record" So, here is what her later statement means. Under the Presidential Records Act any record "or any reasonably segregable portion thereof, created or received by the President, his immediate staff, or a unit or individual of the Executive Office of the President whose function is to advise and assist the President, in the course of conducting activities which relate or have an effect upon the carrying oiut of the constitutional, statutory, or other OFFICIAL or ceremonial duties of the President..." THOSE are Presidential Records and the President has ZERO authority to declare them as "Personal Records" Now, if Trump were keeping a diary and it had an entry, "Dear Diary. I met Kim Jong Il for the first time today and he is even more handsome that I thought. His pictures do not do him justice. I have to say I couldn't keep the image of his big manly arms embracing me and holding me on those nights Melania tells to me to get away from her (which, to be honest, is most nights)." THAT is a Personal record. Now when he writes that into his diary and scribbles little hearts all around it he can, if he so desires, declare is a Presidential Record and include it in the Presidential Records turned over to NARA when he leaves office. He may do that so that future generations will understand why he was caught giving Kim a hand job in the back of the Presidential limousine. It doesn't matter, he MAY, under the PRA include in his PRESIDENTIAL records. But, as any sane person would do, he declares it a PERSONAL record (at the time it was created and since it does not fall under the PRA definition of a Presidential Record) he can do that. And once done, that's it. It is unreviewable It is a Personal Record now and at any time in the future. What Trump CANNOT do is take an intelligence briefing from the Defense Intelligence Agency detailing how General Hso of Kim's General Staff is really a double agent and is informing us that N. Korea has built their 23rd nuclear warhead and gives us the coordinates of where it is being stored and declare THAT as a "Personal Record". Some of the documents found at Mar-a-Lago fall under this kind of record. It is a Presidential Record and as such MUST be stored with the National Archives when Trump stops being president (which was Jan 21, 2021 at noon). I don't care if he was allowed to have it at 11:59 AM on Jan 21. At noon it stopped being something he had access to, let alone be able to keep at Mar-a-Lago. What was found at Mar-a-Lago and the status of Trump being able to store it at Mar-a-Lago more than 2 years AFTER he stopped being President cannot be more clear. Anyone arguing that his WILLFUL retention of these documents and his attempts to hide them and his attempts to destroy evidence that he WAS hiding them is NOT a crime is lying or living in some sort of alternate reality.
