A federal judge said Wednesday that White House staff must preserve their official records, including communications that they send via non-official text message services, pushing back on attempts to free President Donald Trump from record-keeping obligations that were set by Congress.
The 54-page opinion from Judge John Bates of the DC District Court, puts on hold an attempt by the administration to roll back the Presidential Records Act, which was a major reform following the Watergate scandal and the state of then-President Richard Nixon’s records.
“Congress has the enumerated power to regulate presidential records,” Bates wrote.
“While the presidency is a singularly important institution, that gravity does not free it from modest constraint,” the judge added.
Yet Bates declined to put any restrictions directly on the president, the vice president, the National Archives and archivist, the Justice Department or the attorney general.
