Trump Wins Fight Over Messaging Apps Nixon ‘Could Only Dream Of’

(Bloomberg) -- Even if Trump White House personnel are using self-deleting message applications in violation of a records-preservation law, a Washington appeals court concluded that it lacks the authority to enforce day-to-day compliance.

The trio of judges -- all selected by Democratic presidents -- on Tuesday unanimously upheld a 2018 trial court ruling rejecting a bid by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (or CREW) for an order compelling President Donald Trump and his staff to strictly comply with the 1978 Presidential Records Act.

The law established U.S. ownership of information and communication generated within the White House. The measure was enacted after the Watergate scandal showed destruction of some documents and led to the resignation of Richard M. Nixon, but it left the president responsible for compliance.

“Richard Nixon could only have dreamed of the technology at issue in this case: message-deleting apps that guarantee confidentiality by encrypting messages and then erasing them forever once read by the recipient," U.S. Circuit Judge David Tatel wrote in the 14-page opinion.

Still, he and judges Nina Pillard and Harry Edwards agreed that the relief sought by CREW, together with the National Security Archive, was too vague for a legal mechanism requiring a “clear and indisputable violation.” The appellate court declined to “micromanage the president’s day-to-day compliance” with the act, Tatel said.

CREW filed the suit two years ago amid reports Trump aides were using self-deleting messaging apps for government communications, even after an internal memo forbade them from doing so when handling official White House business.

The U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, then under the chairmanship of Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz, also conveyed its PRA compliance concerns in a March 2017 letter to the president’s White House counsel.

The 37th U.S. president, Nixon resigned in Aug. 1974 as an investigation into wrongdoing by members of his campaign organization and administration, including the burglary of Democratic Party offices at the Watergate complex in Washington and the ensuing cover-up threatened to force his removal from office by Congress.

The case is Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington v. Trump, 18-5150, U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit (Washington).

To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Harris in Washington at aharris16@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Steve Stroth, Joe Schneider

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