On April 2, 2026, Trump's Department of Justice released a 52-page opinion declaring the Presidential Records Act of 1978 unconstitutional — the law that has governed presidential record-keeping for nearly half a century, enacted in direct response to Watergate.
The opinion, authored by OLC head T. Elliot Gaiser (a former Trump 2020 campaign attorney who clerked for Justice Alito), concludes that Trump “need not further comply” with the Act. The DOJ argued Congress “cannot preserve presidential records merely for the sake of posterity” and that the Act “unconstitutionally intrudes on the independence and autonomy of the President.”
The self-dealing is breathtaking. Trump was indicted on 40 felony counts for taking approximately 300 classified documents to Mar-a-Lago. Jack Smith's prosecutors found the documents were “pertinent to certain business interests” — including Saudi partnerships. The case was dismissed by Trump-appointed Judge Cannon, then dropped after his re-election. One week before this opinion, Rep. Raskin revealed Smith's memo showing the business motive. Now the same DOJ declares the entire legal framework unconstitutional.
New York Times reporter Charlie Savage noted the opinion “sets Trump up to claim a right to take it all in 2029 — especially if he really does issue a blanket declassification order first.” The man who stole classified documents has now had his own Justice Department declare that the law requiring presidents to hand over records doesn't apply.
The Presidential Records Act was the post-Watergate safeguard ensuring that presidential records belong to the American people, not to the president personally. Every presidency from Reagan onward has operated under it. If records never reach government hands, the entire pipeline of transparency and accountability closes permanently.