Trump Sued By Watchdog for Illegally Destroying WH Communications Records

June 24th, 2017

Awake Goy

Trump Sued By Watchdog for Illegally Destroying WH Communications Records

Susanne Posel ,Chief Editor Occupy Corporatism | Host of Hardline Radio Show

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and the National Security Archive (NSA) have filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump and the office of the president for violating the Presidential Records Act (PRA).

According to the complaint, White House staffers use encryption messaging apps to conduct internal communications. This is not only a violation of the PRA, but the complaint states that Trump’s administration “failed to adopt adequate policies and guidelines to maintain and preserve presidential records.”

By using Signal and Confide , White House staffers’ messages are deleted because those apps automatically preform that service. This prevents those communications from being recorded and archived as is mandated by law.

The PRA states that while presidential records are not subject to a FIOA request, they are made public 5 years after the president leaves office, barring any classified information that must wait a full 12 years before being released.

Jordan Libowitz, spokesman for CREW, believes that the reason these messages are being deleted is to keep them secret from the American people.” Libowitz pointed to this action as a symptom of a “larger, troubling pattern” of this administration’s quest to suppress information.

Tom Blanton, director of the NSA, explained that by using “encrypted messaging apps… prevent[s] any kind of preservation raise serious concerns that presidential records are at risk.”

Social media posts are subject to the PRA. In the lawsuit, CREW and NSA allege that any tweets Trump deletes is a violation of the PRA. For example, last November Trump deleted a tweet concerning a meeting with generals at Mar-a-Lago.

Noah Bookbinder, executive director of CREW said: “The American people not only deserve to know how their government is making important decisions, it’s the law. By deleting these records, the White House is destroying essential historical records.”