Historians suing Trump administration say National Archives won’t commit to preserving presidential records during lawsuit | CNN Politics

The historians who are suing over the Trump administration’s eschewal of a Watergate-era records retention law for presidential documents said Tuesday that the National Archives won’t agree not to destroy those records while their case is litigated. The American Historical Association is seeking an emergency court order in a lawsuit it filed last week in the wake of a Justice Department memo that said the Presidential Records Act is unconstitutional. The Presidential Records Act requires presidents and their staff to preserve White House records and turn those records over to the National Archives at the end of their administrations. The law was instrumental in the chain of events that led to President Donald Trump’s prosecution for allegedly mishandling classified documents that he took from the White House at the end of his first term. Earlier this month, a Justice Department office that gives legal advice to the executive branch said it had concluded the law was unconstitutional. The opinion, from the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel, told the president he was no longer obligated to comply with it. In filings Tuesday, the historians — who are being joined in th