A federal judge orders White House staff and President Donald Trump’s top advisers to comply with the Presidential Records Act, which requires preservation of certain presidential records. Multiple outlets report that the judge finds the White House faces a “substantial risk” of erasing official documents and issues a directive aimed at ensuring that records subject to the law are not destroyed or improperly handled.
The ruling also rejects a position previously taken by the Department of Justice, including a recent DOJ opinion and an April government memo, both of which argued that the Watergate-era statute is unconstitutional. ABC News and The New York Times report that the judge overrules those prior government views, concluding the law applies and should be followed.
CBS News and other accounts describe the order as directing compliance by the president’s senior team, not just lower-level staff. The decision centers on whether presidential records must be preserved under the Presidential Records Act and whether the White House must follow the statute’s requirements despite earlier legal arguments challenging its validity.
