{"id":135022,"date":"2017-10-09T15:13:38","date_gmt":"2017-10-09T21:13:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=135022"},"modified":"2017-10-09T16:17:30","modified_gmt":"2017-10-09T22:17:30","slug":"well-president-means-not-illegal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/10\/09\/well-president-means-not-illegal.html","title":{"rendered":"“Well, when the president does it, that means it is not illegal”"},"content":{"rendered":"

That was Nixon’s comment to David Frost<\/a>\u00a0, and seems to be the Justice Department’s response to civil suits raised regarding the Trump administration hypothetically destroying records that it’s required by law to retain. Such shenanigans have been mentioned in various news reports, but an effort to put the White House under injunction to obey the Presidential Record Act is, the DoJ argues, improper.<\/p>\n

“Courts cannot review the President\u2019s compliance with the Presidential Records Act,” states Trump’s motion to dismiss. Justice Department attorneys handling the case refer to a 1991 decision out of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals \u2014 Armstrong v. Bush \u2014 for the proposition that “Congress \u2026 sought assiduously to minimize outside interference with the day-to-day operations of the President and his closest advisors and to ensure executive branch control over presidential records during the President\u2019s term in office,\u201d and so \u201cit is difficult to conclude that Congress intended to allow courts, at the behest of private citizens, to rule on the adequacy of the President\u2019s records management practices or overrule his records creation, management, and disposal decisions.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In other words, legal or not, whatever<\/i> the Administration is doing with record requirements cannot be reviewed by courts because it would interfere with the operation of the White House.<\/p>\n

Nice legal protection if you can get it.<\/p>\n

[h\/t +<\/span>Stan Pedzick<\/a><\/span>]<\/p>\n


\n
\n<\/a>
\nDonald Trump Can Destroy Records Without Judicial Review, Justice Department Tells Court<\/a><\/span>
\nDeleted tweets? Purges of phone records? The erasing of secretly recorded conversations? The Trump Administration tells a D.C. judge that courts can’t review compliance with preservation laws.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That was Nixon’s comment to David Frost\u00a0, and seems to be the Justice Department’s response to civil suits raised regarding the Trump administration hypothetically destroying records that it’s required by law to retain. Such shenanigans have been mentioned in various news reports, but an effort to put the White House under injunction to obey the … Continue reading ““Well, when the president does it, that means it is not illegal””<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135034,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,358,1071],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plusposts","category-poor-citizenship","category-trump"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/unnamed-3.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13419,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/12\/20\/the_public_record_is_what.html","url_meta":{"origin":135022,"position":0},"title":"“The public record is whatever I say the public record is”","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 20-Dec-08 9:39pm","format":false,"excerpt":"It's nice when you can decide what level of accountability you will be held to, isn't it? After all, that's the hallmark of the \"unitary executive.\" Dick Cheney's lawyers are...","rel":"","context":"In "Politics & Law"","block_context":{"text":"Politics & Law","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":132287,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/13\/trump-picks-rick-perry-as-secretary-of-energy.html","url_meta":{"origin":135022,"position":1},"title":"Trump picks Rick Perry as Secretary of Energy","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 13-Dec-16 4:53pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Which is not the most awful of picks, if only because Energy isn't as critical a post as, say, State or Justice. Still, in areas of fossil fuel use and climate change research, there's plenty of damage Perry can (and likely will) do.The irony here is that (a) Perry once\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133627,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/07\/when-is-a-twitter-account-a-public-government-forum.html","url_meta":{"origin":135022,"position":2},"title":"When is a Twitter Account a public government forum?","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 7-Jun-17 7:05am","format":false,"excerpt":"The suggestion that Trump banning people from his @RealDonaldTrump account on Twitter is a violation of their 1st Amendment right to Free Speech (and perhaps their 14th Amendment right to Equal Treatments under the Law) is, on the face of it, absurd-sounding.On the other hand, if it is actually used\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":137413,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/11\/05\/presidential-words-mean-things.html","url_meta":{"origin":135022,"position":3},"title":"Presidential Words Mean Things","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 5-Nov-18 7:41pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Remember when we hoped that presidential speechfying would edify the world, that it could help spread the principles of American democracy, that it might encourage foreign governments to pursue the angels of their better nature. And then Trump happens.\u275d The Nigerian army has cited a video of US President Donald\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133104,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/03\/20\/i-read-it-for-the-presidential-articles.html","url_meta":{"origin":135022,"position":4},"title":""I read it for the (Presidential) articles!"","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 20-Mar-17 9:18am","format":false,"excerpt":"Apparently Playboy's 1990 interview with Donald Trump is required reading for foreign leaders and their staffs when it comes to making a first visit on our new President. Even though it took place during the George H. W. Bush administration (Trump thought Bush was too \"kinder and gentler\"), its themes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":131650,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/26\/on-the-paying-of-taxes-as-a-presidential-hopeful.html","url_meta":{"origin":135022,"position":5},"title":"On the Paying of Taxes, as a Presidential Hopeful","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 26-Sep-16 11:12pm","format":false,"excerpt":"1. It is well established in American law and culture that nobody is required to pay more taxes than they must under the law. That's being (as Donald himself put it) \"smart.\" I can't fault Trump for that.2. Folk who pay no taxes at tax time do so because of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135022"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135022\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135035,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135022\/revisions\/135035"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}