Florida Rep. Byron Donalds stretched the limits of his own credibility when he claimed that Trump had at least five years to turn over all classified documents to the National Archives.
And one quick thing, people say, well, he should have been working with NARA.
Of course.
Do you know how many documents a president of the United States leaves with?
You think a president has time before he leaves the White House to go through all his documents?
That doesn’t even make any sense, because he’s still running the country until January 20, noon on January 20.
He’s still running the country every single day.
It takes them time.
They go through all their materials.
That’s why the Presidential Records Act gives ex-presidents, and ex-vice presidents for that matter, a five-year period to go through their documents and work with NARA.
If the job was too much for Trump, just say it. Using the “he’s too busy” excuse wouldn’t fly in an elementary school.
CBS News reports, “The Presidential Records Act, the outgoing president is responsible under the law for giving all his official records to the National Archives before he has left office.”
Before he left office, dummy.
The FBI searched Mar-A-Lago Aug 8, 2022, which is 18 months after he left office — and after his attorney signed an affidavit saying all classified documents had already been returned.
If the Presidential Records Act* gave Trump five years to return classified documents, there would be no crime. It doesn’t.
*Trump is not charged under the Presidential Records Act. He is charged under the Espionage Act. Neither allows former presidents to take classified documents with them, and certainly doesn’t allow them to keep them in bathrooms and unsecured storage rooms. In particular, they don’t permit former presidents to hide them in order to keep from giving them back. If you haven’t read the indictment, we highly recommend you do. – Eds.
