In an extraordinary op-ed in today’s Wall Street Journal, Michael Bekesha of Judicial Watch argues that the Presidential Records Act gave Donald Trump carte blanche to leave the White House with whatever classified materials he wanted to take with him; that Trump’s very act of doing so rendered those materials his own “personal records” under the Act; and that Trump therefore can’t be prosecuted for refusing to return those materials, for concealing his possession of them, and for lying about them.
Building on a recent Corner post by Andy McCarthy, I’ve written a tweet thread that sets forth why I think that Bekesha’s argument is bonkers.
In today’s WSJ, Judicial Watch’s Michael Bekesha claims that Presidential Records Act gives an outgoing president complete authority to “decide what records to return and what records to keep at the end of his presidency.” Bizarro World account of PRA. 1/https://t.co/2hCvONd7vh
— Ed Whelan (@EdWhelanEPPC) June 14, 2023