No, he had no right to keep presidential archives
Known for spreading fake news (30,573 false or misleading statements during his four years in office, according to a count of Washington Post), Donald Trump recycled information wrongly given since the search of August 8, 2022 at his home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida. After his court appearance, he spoke to his supporters about the federal investigation into his handling of official documents, saying he was not the only culprit. According to him, tenants of the White House would have taken away government archives long before him. A completely erroneous statement.
As a reminder, since the entry into force in 1981 of the law on the presidential archives, their management falls to an independent agency, the NARA (National Archives and Records Administration). In a communication published in October on this subject, the agency thus underlined that it had obtained physical and legal custody of all the files of Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama and the two George Bushes “when they left office”. It was also this agency that was responsible for moving the documents to facilities that “meet strict standards for archiving and security”. “Claims that these documents remained in the possession of former presidents or their representatives, or that the documents were kept in substandard conditions, are false and misleading,” confirmed the archival agency.
