Donald Trump's newly launched presidential library claims it cannot locate a single direct message sent by the president from his Twitter account, despite his prolific posting of thousands of tweets during his first term. The Trump Presidential Library's response to a Freedom of Information Act request from The Washington Post follows several lawsuits against the administration's policy memo asserting that it does not need to comply with the Presidential Records Act.
The administration's response may contradict Twitter's own testimony that the president sent or received at least 32 messages in the months leading up to the 2020 presidential election and the Capitol attack on January 6, 2021. Those messages were not disclosed in court documents related to special counsel Jack Smith's federal criminal case against Trump over his alleged conspiracy to overturn election results. However, the library, under the National Archives and Records Administration, told The Post it was "unable to locate any records related to" any direct message sent by Trump during his first term.
Legal Challenges to the Presidential Records Act
In April, the Department of Justice unilaterally determined that the landmark public records transparency law is unconstitutional and threatens the "constitutional independence and autonomy" of the president. A federal judge has ordered the administration to follow the law and blocked the destruction of any presidential and vice presidential records while legal battles continue.
The Presidential Records Act of 1978, enacted after Richard Nixon's attempts to destroy his records upon resigning, mandates that all records be preserved and eventually transferred to the National Archives at the end of a president's term. These records are typically preserved in libraries established by former presidents.
Trump's Proposed Library Design
Trump has not yet built a physical library. He told reporters earlier this year that the library would not be a traditional library but "most likely, a hotel, with a beautiful building underneath and a 747 Air Force One in the lobby" in Miami, Florida. Proposed designs by Bermello Ajamil & Partners show a sleek skyscraper with a red, white, and blue spire and the word "Trump" in large illuminated letters above an American flag. The building, resembling New York City's One World Trade Center, will feature the presidential 747 jet gifted by Qatar on display, along with a gold escalator and a gold statue of the president raising his arm in a defiant pose.
Justice Department Memo and Lawsuits
April's memo from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel claimed that the Presidential Records Act "exceeds Congress's enumerated and implied powers, and it aggrandizes the Legislative Branch at the expense of the constitutional independence and autonomy" of the president. The memo stated that the president "need not further comply" with the Watergate-era law. Several groups swiftly filed federal lawsuits to block the memo, which the American Historical Association and watchdog group American Oversight condemned as Trump's illegal pass to "destroy records of his official government conduct, or even spirit away the records for his own future personal use."
A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction on May 20, quoting George Orwell's 1984: "Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past." Judge John Bates wrote that the gravity of the presidency does not free it from modest constraint, and Congress has validly determined that the Act helps maintain public trust by shedding light on presidential activities.
Contradiction with Twitter's Testimony
The Trump administration's revelation that Trump never sent a direct message on Twitter during his first term appears to clash with Twitter's own testimony. While investigating Trump's alleged conspiracy to reverse his election loss, Jack Smith's team issued a warrant for Twitter records, which produced evidence of at least 32 direct messages sent between October 2020 and January 2021. Prosecutors wrote in 2023 that "the materials Twitter produced to the Government included only 32 direct-message items, constituting a minuscule proportion of the total production." The contents of those messages remain unclear. Smith closed that investigation, along with the federal probe into Trump's handling of classified records at Mar-a-Lago, after Trump's victory in 2024.
The White House has insisted that the president is "committed to preserving records from his historic Administration and he will maintain a rigorous records retention program," according to spokeswoman Abigail Jackson. She stated that the White House is not deleting emails or other electronic records, and staff must undergo records training to properly preserve materials related to their duties, policy decisions, and litigation needs.
