https://www.justice.gov/olc/media/1434131/dl?inline
Things Trump's admin used to have to do prior to this memo from yesterday:
- Write things down. The President "shall take all such steps as may be necessary" to make sure activities, deliberations, decisions, and policies are "adequately documented." 44 usc 2203(a)
Save the stuff they wrote down. 2203(a)
Not shred anything with historical or evidentiary value. The President can only dispose of records that "no longer have administrative, historical, informational, or evidentiary value." 2203(c)
Ask the Archivist before throwing anything away. Even for stuff with no value, the President has to get the Archivist's written opinion first. 2203(c)(1)
Give Congress 60 days' notice if the Archivist objects. If the Archivist says "I want to keep that," Congress gets notified and has 60 days before disposal can happen. 2203(d)
Forward any texts or messages from personal apps to an official account within 20 days. If you use Signal, personal email, etc. for government work, you have to copy an official account or forward within 20 days. 2209(a)
Hand everything over to the National Archives when leaving office. All Presidential records transfer to the Archivist at the end of the term. They're U.S. government property, not the President's. 2203(g)(1), 2202