Trumps Attempt to Bypass The Presidential Records Act

As the title of this article states with Trump’s attemps to bypass  the Presidential Records Act  (PRA), it is a critical check on presidential corruption which was established after Watergate.

The PRA was established to ensure transparency and prevent the public’s records from being treated as private property.

It mandates two primary requirements:

First, there is preservation. The president and staff must preserve all records created in office, including memos, emails, and text messages. Destruction, shredding, or deletion of these records is strictly prohibited.

Second, there is public ownership. Records belonging to the public, not the individual. Upon leaving office, the president must transfer all records to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). This prevents a president from, for example, taking boxes of documents home to store in a bathroom. NARA is then required to make these records public starting five years after the term ends.

But of course, Trump and his cronies will not follow this law. Trumps administration is attempting to invalidate the PRA to prevent “shady dealings” from being exposed once they leave office.

Trump demanded that his Department of Justice, lead by the corrupt Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, to produce a 52-page memo. It was written by Todd Blanche himself. The memo that Trump had Blanche argues that the PRA is unconstitutional because it allegedly infringes on executive powers.

In another attempt to bypass preservation requirements, this administration uses a program called Signal, where the messages sent from within disappear after a period of time. This is a direct violation of the law, as it bypasses preservation requirements, yet Trump decides to break the law anyway.

The PRA has been enacted for the last 50 years, and in that time, only one president, Donald Trump has violated that law. Every past president since the inception of the PRA have preserved all records. But Trump in his infinite wisdom had decided on his first term to take records that he wanted and removed them from the White House. They were traced to the president’s bathroom in his residence in Mar-a-largo.

Trump was in the process of a conviction by Jack Smith for stealing the records in his first term, but the sole fact that Trump was re-elected to his second term mandated that the charges be dropped. Now so he can continue to steal records, he is trying to change the law.

Four years after the records reach the National Archives, they are released to the public. Trump knows that the records that the archives will share will highlight more of his corruption within the White House in his second term, so he will do everything in his power, including to take down the Presidential Records Act is his desire to continue the lack of transparency from his administration.

Trump Tax Audit Immunity

Right now, everybody in America is subject to audit except one family.  That is the Trump family.

All thanks to the tax audit immunity deal that Donald Trump got out of his own administration.

The immunity deal, in my view, is a brazen abuse of the nation’s laws in a system that forces everybody else to play by the rules. It amounts to the worst of double standards. It’s a crooked double standard that benefits one person, the president and of course his family. It’s clear that Donald Trump and his family and business associates will do virtually anything to use the Federal Government and taxpayer dollars to enrich themselves and operate under a separate set of rules. As of right now, it’s everybody in America.

Senate Judiciary Committee Advance Todd Blanche for Confirmation of Attorney General

The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing yesterday to confirm the Todd Blanche nomination for Attorney General of the United States that will go to a full vote before the U.S. Senate.

Democrats in the committee all were unanimously not in favor of advancing Blanche.

Starting with Democratic Senator Whitehouse, Blanche was called out with Donald Trump in their joint cover-up of the Epstein files. Senator Whitehouse also accused Blanche for a massive screw-up of the release of the documents.

Whitehouse came with the proof. He claimed there were four 302 documents, date stamped so it’s confirmed there were four, and in one of them, there was testimony from a woman who told the FBI in a formal statement that she had been sexually assaulted and physically assaulted by Donald Trump around 13 or 14 years of age. Out of the four 302’s released they only provided three out of the four. Of course, they did not release the one that made statements about Trump assaulting a woman. So much for transparency.

Presently, Todd Blanche is still sitting on 37 pages of what almost certainly must be the agent’s notes off which the three 302’s were taken that should be disclosed under the Epstein files law but instead those 37 pages remain hidden by the DOJ.

Democratic Senator Schiff mentioned that Todd Blanche has violated his code of ethics, blatantly misled this committee in testimony, supported the establishment of a fund for cop beaters, concealed and covered up documents implicating the president in the Epstein files, gone after the president’s enemies, and used the DOJ to enrich the president in a collusive settlement.

So, this is who the Republican Senators plan to confirm as Attorney General. The fundamental problem with Tod Blanche is not that he’s inexperienced, not that he’s not capable, not that he’s not intelligent. The main problem is that he has never been able to shed his role as criminal defense lawyer for Donald Trump.

Todd Blanche does not represent the American people now. He will never represent the American people. He will never do what’s best for the American people. He will only do what’s best for Donald Trump. And you cannot leave someone like that as the nation’s number one law enforcement official, not when you have a corrupt president engaged in the most unprecedented acts, and self-enriching schemes we have ever seen. You just can’t do it and hope to have anything left of the rule of law.

Senator Booker talked about how Todd Blanche moved Ghislaine Maxwell from one facility in Tallahassee, where she was imprisoned for engaging in child sex trafficking with Jeffrey Epstein and moved her to Camp Bryan in Texas, where she got a reward for helping cover up things for Donald Trump. Senator Booker did not hold back.  It’s unprecedented and corrupt, yet this is the man that the Republican Senators want as the top law official of the land. Todd Blanche did not study case files and he didn’t talk to the prosecutors who proved her guilty as an accomplice of Jeffrey Epstein. Instead, he ran to the jail cell and met with Ghislaine for two days, insulting every single Epstein victim that had been asking for a meeting for years. After those two days, did we get information that led to an indictment? Obviously not. Trump still has yet to be formally implicated. No information out of the meeting led to any new investigations. Ghislaine Maxwell is a convicted sex offender and because of Todd Blanche, she was able to leave her confinement in maximum security, and go to one of the cushiest prisons in the United States. That is supposedly a violation of prison law, by DOJ law and a direct violation of DOJ principles, yet Todd Blanche is the stand-up guy for Republicans to be the next Attorney General. Blanche is breaking the laws of the agency he plans to lead.

Todd Blanche is not the people’s lawyer as he should be. He’s not America’s lawyer. As stated in the hearing, Todd Blanche “is about to become Trump’s sword against his adversaries and shield against any scrutiny. The shield is going to shield Trump from tax cheating. The shield is going to shield him from investigation for any involvement he may have had in the Epstein’s deeds.”

It’s also unprecedented that the Attorney General would investigate colleagues on this committee, but he has done just that.

Blanche has faced scrutiny over the Justice Department’s efforts to create a $1.8 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund. The fund, which stemmed from a lawsuit between Trump and the Internal Revenue Service, was put on hold after a federal judge issued a temporary injunction blocking its creation.

The Senate Judiciary Committee, consisting of 11 Republicans, and 10 Democrats chaired by Chuck Grassley (Republican – Iowa) and ranking member Dick Durbin (Democrat – Illinois) when for the vote in an attempt to advance the nomination to the full Senate. The vote was down partisan lines, as eleven people voted for the Blanche nomination, and ten people voted against. Nothing that the Democrats said at the hearing mattered to the Republicans. Todd Blanche could have shot someone in the back and could have gotten away with it from this Republican led committee.  Blanche is protected by Trump and is getting away with it because it’s Trump’s will.

America, How Did We Get Here? What has Trump done?

Dealing with Donald Trump for the last six years now has been almost too much to bear. Do you remember when Kamala Harris warned that another Trump presidency would bring instability, higher costs, attacks on democratic institutions, and reckless leadership? Maga dismissed those warnings as exaggerated campaign rhetoric.

Now, as Americans deal with greater uncertainty, many of those warnings are sounding less like fear-mongering and more like a forecast. Trump said he will target and punish those who disagree with him or refuse to bend to his will. He’s been doing just that. He calls these Americans the enemy within and says that he would use the American military to go after American citizens. Journalists whose stories he doesn’t like. Non-partisan election officials who refuse to cheat by finding a few extra votes for him. Judges who insist on following the law instead of following him. It is for reasons like these that General Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Donald Trump’s top general, has called Trump. and I quote, “fascist to the core.”

Vice-President Harris was going to give $20,000 if you were buy your first house. But the voters chose the “eating the cats and the dogs” guy.

“They’re eating the cats.” “They’re eating the dogs.”

That’s who you thought was a better choice. And now we’re at war and everything is more expensive. Great choice, right?

Back in 2024, do you remember what MAGA said? If you vote for Kamala Harris, gas is going to go up, groceries are going to get higher, and we’ll be at war with Iran within one to two years? And yes it happened. No, the election did not go in Kamala’s favor, but her prediction was right on. Trump is responsible for doing all those things.

Trump could give a rats ass about the American people in his second term, with presidential immunity given to him by a right wing court, and not having to worry about another election.  He’s not accountable to anyone, not even to his constituents.

Trump said he was going to put America first. Instead, he put Israel first, then he went to Venezuela , now we are in a war with Iran where I predict that Trump will commit war crimes. He’s claimed that he wants to take over Greenland. He claims he plans to hit Iran more than ever before. He will steal their oil. He will attack their infrastructure, bridges highways, powerplants and harm the citizens of Iran. It’s a war crime just to talk about it, but Trump may actually be doing it.  He’s already mentioned these facts  on video tape, and in writing.

Harris and other Trump critics raised concerns about tariffs, inflationary pressure, foreign policy instability, reproductive rights, executive overreach, immigration enforcement, and political retaliation. It’s all come true. She knew exactly what was in for the people if Trump was elected.

MAGA supporters, including my friend Scott K, laughed, and dismissed the concerns, and insisted Trump would bring lower prices, peace, and economic strength. The warnings were not hidden in complicated policy documents that nobody could find. They appeared in debates, interviews, campaign speeches, news coverage, and countless conversations before Election Day.

Voters were offered two very different versions of leadership. Harris emphasized stability, working family support, housing affordability, health care protections, and institutional responsibility. Trump emphasized disruption, punishment, loyalty, and confrontation. MAGA chose the spectacle. And now when supporters quietly disappear or pretend they never enthusiastically defended Trump, people remember.

Political embarrassment does not erase political responsibility. Kamala Harris was a prophet. Everything that she predicted Donald Trump would do, he has done in less than 18 months. He has started new wars. He has driven up inflation, not just at home, but global inflation as well. He has driven up energy prices. He is spiraling us into the biggest recession that anyone has ever seen since the Great Depression.

So tell me MAGA? Tell me Scott K. What did you get out of Trump so far since he’s been president for a second term?  First thought, he gave you a never-ending war in Iran.  What has he done to save lives? Almost two dozen soldiers are now dead because of his war with Iran. He got rid of programs like US AID, which saved thousands and thousands of lives worldwide, but now people are dying and why? It’s because he and DOGE killed the program. The Trump administration has terminated or defunded dozens of federal programs across health, science, education, housing, and foreign aid, often citing ideological opposition to “woke” research, diversity initiatives, or perceived waste.  Key eliminations include over a dozen CDC health-tracking programshundreds of millions in cancer research grants, and the withdrawal of U.S. funding from the World Health Organization. It’s like a nightmare that the American people have to live in real life. 

What else did MAGA approve of when they voted for Trump? And they even knew ahead of time, but still elected a pedophile in the White House. You have an “Orange” man running rampant, gas prices are soaring, and now finally there are definite signs that MAGA is leaving him, along with the people in Washington.

What Trump voters could have instead of all the promises that Trump didn’t keep were $6,000 for your first child, $20,000 as your first home buyer, and universal healthcare for yourself.

Instead, you put a man in the White House who was hanging around Jeffrey Epstein, messing with underage girls.

MAGA supporters were not uninformed. They heard the warnings, they saw Trump’s first term, his legal controversies, his attacks on opponents, and his admiration for unchecked power. They decided those concerns mattered less than defeating Democrats, rejecting a woman candidate, or supporting someone who promised to punish the people they disliked.

So here’s where you come to a fork in the road. People can reconsider their politics. They can admit they were wrong. They can leave MAGA and help repair the damage. What they cannot reasonably expect is for everyone to forget the warnings they mocked or the harm they helped enable. Regret is meaningful only when it produces reflection and action.

I sincerely hope that my friend Scott K. in Wisconsin sees the light. I’m hoping one day he will admit he was wrong about Trump, and wrong to falsely criticize Harris and Obama . His Facebook page look like a billboard of hate for Obama and Biden.  I’ve thought about this long and hard. Over the years, Scott and I have been good friends, and we consistently talk to each other on the phone after working together. But the conversations have been getting harder and harder for me to stomach because texting and phone conversations seem to lean on the political side these days. I sincerely wished to visit Scott again this summer, but my intuition tells me that when we see each other this time, we would discuss politics and we are on total opposite sides of of fence with our confronting beliefs. That’s a recipe for disaster.

So unfortunately, I won’t be going to Wisconsin this year. Maybe when Scott finally sees the light and admits that Trump was bad for the country will I even consider visiting him again. And when I do, there must be no politics. I’ve always told him that people have the right to believe in the politics that they believe in. But to consistently support a criminal president, a sex offender, a fraudster, a war monger all in one is just too much for me to accept in a friend. And when he criticizes past Democratic presidents, that a step gone too far.

When Trump is gone, America will erase him from their memory, although it will be hard to do considering how much he harmed his own people, even his own party. Many people cannot and will never forget the harm he has done to the citizens of this country. But I predict all the gold will be gone from the White House. Future presidents will not want to be reminded of a past president that isolated America from its neighbors of Canada and Mexico and the whole world for that matter with his needless tariffs. Trump’s portrait will be removed from the White House. He will loose his top security clearance and will no longer be privy to classified documents. Court proceedings against Trump may resume. He may find himself arrested and on a plane to the Hague if he happens to travel to a county that would be obligated to arrest him and turn him over to Netherland authorities. Last count, there are 124 countries that would do just that.  If arrested, he would be charged with murdering citizens of countries he attacked, most likely Iran.

The Hague is the International Criminal Court (ICC) is the world’s first and only permanent international tribunal established to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. Often referred to colloquially as the “world criminal court,” it is headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands, and began operations on July 1, 2002, under the Rome Statute.