Trump Sued Over White House Memo Permitting Deletion of Official Texts and Emails

Two prominent watchdog organizations have filed a lawsuit against former President Donald Trump over an internal White House memo that appears to permit the deletion of official text messages and emails, in direct conflict with federal record-keeping laws.

The lawsuit, filed on Friday, March 15, 2024, was initiated by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and the Freedom of the Press Foundation. The groups argue that the memo undermines transparency and accountability by allowing officials to determine which communications are preserved.

"These text messages capture the day-to-day business of the most powerful office in the country—and arguably the world," said Lauren Harper, a spokesperson for the Freedom of the Press Foundation, in a statement to The New York Times. "The memo sanctifies the notion that Trump and his Cabinet get to decide what becomes part of the American story."

The legal challenge comes on the heels of a controversial claim by the U.S. Department of Justice earlier in March 2024 that the Presidential Records Act, a post-Watergate law requiring preservation of presidential records, may be unconstitutional. Just one day after that DOJ assertion, the White House circulated the memo in question, which states that text messages between officials do not need to be retained unless they are "the sole record of official decision-making."

The memo is a central piece of evidence cited in the watchdog groups’ lawsuit. In addition to text messages, the memo also relaxes restrictions on emails sent from personal accounts and broadens allowances for record-keeping practices within the administration.

Trump Administration’s History of Record-Keeping Controversies

This latest legal dispute is not an isolated incident. The Trump administration has faced repeated scrutiny over its handling of official records. Notably, Trump has been documented tearing important documents into pieces and leaving them on the floor. Additionally, he was criminally indicted in June 2023 for allegedly taking classified records to his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida after losing the 2020 presidential election.