The National Archives and Records Administration issued a rare statement on Friday clarifying the Presidential Records Act and rejecting claims that former President Donald Trump had two years to sort through classified documents.
The Archives specified that presidents are expected to turn in all of their presidential documents at the end of their administration, and it said that sorting through the documents to determine what is considered presidential versus personal documents should be done before the president leaves office.
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“Recent media reports have generated a large number of queries about Presidential records and the Presidential Records Act (PRA),” the Archives said in the statement. “The PRA requires that all records created by Presidents (and Vice-Presidents) be turned over to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) at the end of their administrations.”
Presidential records are documentary materials created or received by the president, his immediate staff, or an individual in the Executive Office of the President whose function is to advise or assist the president, the Archives said.
“Personal records include ‘diaries, journals, or other personal notes serving as the functional equivalent of a diary or journal which are not prepared or utilized for, or circulated or communicated in the course of, transacting Government business,'” the NARA release said.
The statement comes after former Trump attorney Tim Parlatore mischaracterized the Presidential Records Act during media appearances this week. Parlatore claimed that presidents have “two years” after they leave office to go through documents and sort them. The Archives disputed the claim.
“There is no history, practice, or provision in law for presidents to take official records with them when they leave office to sort through, such as for a two-year period as described in some reports,” the Archives said.
The confusion comes as Trump faces 37 federal charges related to the alleged mishandling of classified documents. The Justice Department unveiled a 49-page indictment of Trump on Friday, which included charges related to the Espionage Act, making false claims, and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
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More than 300 classified documents were recovered from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort last year, but the charges center on 31 of the documents.
Trump will appear at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Tuesday, June 13. Trump said on Thursday night that he intends to plead “not guilty” to all charges.
