After the Watergate scandal, President Jimmy Carter signed the Presidential Records Act into law. It requires official presidential records to be turned over to the National Archives when each president leaves office.

In 2022, after leaving office, President Donald Trump initially refused to fully comply, forcing the National Archives to travel to Mar-a-Lago to retrieve large quantities of records, including classified documents. Later, the FBI executed a search warrant to retrieve more classified materials.

Special Counsel Jack Smith investigated Trump’s handling of classified documents and in 2023, a grand jury indicted him, partially under the Espionage Act. That case was thrown out in 2024 by Judge Aileen Cannon.

On Thursday, President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel issued an opinion claiming that the Presidential Records Act (PRA) is unconstitutional, as NBC News reported.

That opinion argues that President Trump does not have to turn over his presidential records at the end of his term, NBC added.

The PRA “exceeds Congress’ powers and it does so at the expense of the autonomy of the presidency, T. Elliot Gaiser wrote in the opinion, noting that Congress can’t order the papers of Supreme Court justices to be sent to the archives,” NBC reports. “The determination is a signal that the president will not turn over his documents to the archives.”

The opinion, a memorandum, reads: “You have asked whether the Presidential Records Act of 1978 (‘PRA’ or ‘Act’) is constitutional. We conclude that it is not.”

The New York Times’ Charlie Savage commented that the opinion, “Sets Trump up to claim a right to take it all in 2029-esp if he really does issue a blanket declassification order 1st.”

READ MORE: How Trump’s Iran War ‘Emasculated’ America: Columnist

Image via Reuters 

America has been “emasculated,” writes The Bulwark’s Jonathan V. Last, who argues that Iran has emerged victorious in President Donald Trump’s war — and that America has lost — as he examines the scope of our defeat.

“When this war ends in ‘two or three weeks’ the Iranian regime will be more securely in power than it was before the war and it will have demonstrated the power of a strategic weapon,” Last declares.

Trump started the war more than 30 days ago without stating any clear goals. Over that time, the president and his administration officials have suggested several goals, as Last writes:

“Topple the Islamic Republic and install a new regime.”

“Leave the regime in place, but decapitate it and exercise control over the choice of its next leader.”

“Destroy the Iranian nuclear program, which had been destroyed in June, but had regrown to become an imminent threat.”

READ MORE: Is Tulsi Gabbard Next to Go?

Also, destroy Iran’s ballistic missiles, suicide drones, and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

During his prime-time White House address Wednesday night, Trump “abandoned every single one of these objectives.”

Instead, the Islamic Republic still controls Iran, and its supreme leader was chosen without Trump’s input. There’s been no change to the status of its nuclear program, its drones continue to fly, and the military has no idea what Iran’s stock of ballistic missiles looks like.

“Trump concedes that America is willing to end operations with the strait still closed and has punted responsibility for achieving that objective to other nations,” Last observes. He concludes: “If, in February, you had told Iran that they could trade all of the above outcomes for the destruction of their navy and air force, they would have taken that deal in a heartbeat.”

Last highlights the dire situation:

“By abdicating responsibility for the strait and saying it should be someone else’s problem, America is inviting into existence a rival economic and military alliance.”

Calling it “absolute madness,” Last warns that China will step in.

“If America isn’t going to lead, someone else will—not just in the Strait of Hormuz but around the world. Trump is giving China the green light to exert its influence in the Indo-Pacific. He is opening the door for Chinese cooperation with Europe. He is putting Taiwan—and hence the global supply of semiconductors—at China’s mercy. He is prompting the rest of the world to organize a new global order according to their interests.”

READ MORE: ‘Worst of All the Bad Ideas’: Trump’s High-Risk Iran Commando Raid Plan Scorched

Image via Reuters 

Pam Bondi‘s tenure as Attorney General may be coming to a close, according to multiple reports.

“President Donald Trump has informed Pam Bondi that her time as his attorney general is nearing an end, multiple sources familiar with the situation told Semafor,” the news outlet reports. “Trump has not yet made a formal announcement of Bondi’s replacement, but one is expected soon. As is typical, the sources noted that Trump can also change his mind at any time.”

According to Semafor, Bondi’s handling of the Epstein files, which turned into a long-simmering political crisis, resulted in Trump losing confidence in his Attorney General.

“A person familiar with the situation tells me that Pam Bondi will be out as AG imminently,” Politico’s Washington Bureau chief Dasha Burns also reported on Thursday, noting that CNN and The New York Times have reported the same.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin appears to be Bondi’s most likely successor.

“When Trump met EPA boss Lee Zeldin on Tuesday to discuss last year’s California wildfires, Trump also discussed the potential of tapping him for the AG role, a person close to the WH tells me,” Burns added.

“The president has been reluctant (though not entirely resistant) to firing senior advisers during his second term,” Semafor adds, “in part because he sees ousting members of his team as giving in to his enemies. But Bondi made enough missteps to again prompt Trump to break from his pattern.”

President Trump offered lukewarm support for Bondi on Thursday, telling Semafor in a statement, “Attorney General Pam Bondi is a wonderful person and she is doing a good job.”

Image via Reuters