The PRA does not allow the president to get rid of any presidential records without the written permission of the archivist. I believe the Presidential Records Act should apply, for several reasons. The National Archives has since requested that the White House save deleted or altered tweets, but has not stated a position on whether they are definitely presidential records. Trump has continued to use his account to speak directly “to the people” about issues of national and international importance.Ī US National Archives spokesperson has said that posted tweets are considered presidential records. Once a president leaves office, all presidential records must be transferred to the archivist of the United States, who makes them available to the public over time. Under the law, the federal government must maintain ownership and control of all presidential records, including records created by the president’s staff. There is a narrow exception that things like diaries, journals or other personal notes don’t need to be opened for review. They include material related to “constitutional, statutory, or other official or ceremonial duties of the President.” This includes records created on electronic platforms like email, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The PRA sets strict rules for presidential records created during a president’s term. Congress created the Presidential Records Act of 1978 out of concern that former President Nixon would destroy the tapes that led to his resignation. This changed, however, after Richard Nixon’s presidency.
POTUS TWITTER SCREENSHOT PROFESSIONAL
In most cases, presidents who intentionally destroyed their papers did so to protect both their own privacy and that of their professional acquaintances. This was also historically true for many American presidents, who often destroyed diaries, letters and other records. If a private citizen wants to throw away old clothing or shred documents, he generally has the right to do so. In the United States, the law gives people a broad right to destroy things they own. But even if tweets are part of the official presidential record, meaning deletions are probably not allowed under current law, there may not be much anyone can do to stop Trump from taking down tweets. There are two important questions to answer about Trump’s tweets: Are they official presidential records under the law? And, are deletions or alterations of those tweets legal?Īs a scholar who has researched Twitter’s impact on the 2016 presidential election, I believe the answer to the first question must be yes. When the president of the United States does it, however, there can be legal consequences. Many Twitter users tweak their tweets every day with little to no fanfare. Shortly afterward, a second tweet was posted that corrected the misspelling, though it, too, was soon deleted. Screenshot of tweet that was subsequently deleted.
0 kommentar(er)
