US Justice Department says Trump can keep presidential records

ISTANBUL

US President Donald Trump does not need to hand over his presidential records to the National Archives, the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel said in a recent opinion, ABC News reported on Friday.

Assistant Attorney General T. Elliot Gaiser dismissed a decades-old law designed to safeguard presidential records, arguing that the Presidential Records Act is unconstitutional and "untethered from any valid and identifiable legislative purpose."

"The PRA exceeds the oversight power because it serves no identifiable and valid legislative purpose. It exceeds any preservation power because Congress cannot preserve presidential records merely for the sake of posterity," the opinion said on Wednesday.

After completing his first term, Trump faced allegations of breaching the Presidential Records Act by keeping boxes of sensitive government documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence.

He was later indicted on charges of retaining classified materials and obstructing justice, but the case was ultimately dismissed.

With three years remaining in his second term, the Department of Justice said that the president “need not further comply” with the law that regulates the transfer of presidential records.

Although the Department’s Office of Legal Counsel is responsible for providing legal guidance to the executive branch, the administration could still encounter legal challenges if it tries to enforce this position.

Passed in 1978 after Watergate, the Presidential Records Act made presidential records public instead of private.

Since Ronald Reagan, all presidents have been subject to it, placing their official materials -- like emails and phone records -- under the control of the National Archives once they leave office.

The law gives former presidents up to 12 years to transfer all records.