Former President Donald Trump has been accused of violating the Presidential Records Act. The news follows reports Trump removed 15 boxes that included classified material from the White House and repeatedly ripped up classified documents while in office.
An investigation into the claims has been launched by the House Oversight Committee. Committee Chairwoman Carolyn B. Maloney has called on the National Archives to release information about the 15 boxes recovered from Mar-a-Lago.
In a letter to the National Archivist, Maloney said, “These boxes reportedly contained correspondence and letters from world leaders, including correspondence with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, and a letter President Obama left for his successor.”
According to Maloney, the documents were removed in violation of the Presidential Records Act. The act provides that records made by a sitting president be preserved and belong to the American people. Records must be turned over by the sitting president at the end of his term. The removal of the 15 boxes was first reported by the Washington Post.
“I think it is definitely a violation of the spirit of the act,” said Bill Kamil, a professor in Sinclair Community College’s department of history, humanities, and modern languages. “The act was created after Watergate so that presidents could not pick and choose the documents they released in an effort to influence how the public saw their time in office. I think that is definitely what former President Trump is trying to do.”
Kamil added: “It is damaging to the office of the presidency and to the norms of future presidents. Not only does it open the possibility that somebody else will break those rules or behaviors, it probably guarantees it.”
It remains to be seen what penalties, if any, Trump could experience as a result of the investigation into his conduct. As explained by Kamil, the act does not stipulate what legal consequences violations might incur. While he does see some similarities between Trump and Nixon, Prof. Kamil did share some key differences.
“At some point even members of Nixon’s own party said enough was enough,” he said. “With Trump, that isn’t really the case and people in his party who have criticized him like Liz Cheney have been censured.”
Kamil said he believed Trump is damaging the long term viability of the Republican Party, even if there has has been some short-term political gains. The future of the party remains to be seen.
Ismael Mujahid
Reporter