Then-President Trump designated presidential records as personal records simply by packing them up and taking them to Mar-a-Lago, his lawyers wrote in newly unsealed court documents.
A series of documents filed over the weekend along with others unsealed Monday offer the latest glimpse into Trump’s battle to shield records from the Department of Justice (DOJ), including new evidence from the DOJ that he appeared to have handled the classified records on his property after leaving office.
The filing argues that the determination of whether records created during a president’s term are their personal property is largely up to the president.
“President Trump was still serving his term in office when the documents at issue were packed, transported, and delivered to his residence in Palm Beach, Florida. Thus, when he made a designation decision, he was President of the United States; his decision to retain certain records as personal is entitled to deference, and the records in question are thus presumptively personal,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in a brief.
The Justice Department countered that Trump cannot decide a record is his personal property “simply by saying so.”
Such an interpretation of the Presidential Records Act, it wrote, would “nullify the statutes entire purpose.”
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Trump pushes special master to deem Mar-a-Lago records his personal property https://t.co/FFDiklCpZz pic.twitter.com/lYNKZXcAwO
— The Hill (@thehill) November 14, 2022
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