The NSC stated in its letter that “Documents from the Obama
administration have been transferred to the Barack Obama Presidential
Library. You may send your request to the Obama Library.
However, you
should be aware that under the Presidential Records Act, Presidential
records remain closed to the public for five years after an
administration has left office.”
First of all, Barack Obama’s presidential library does not actually
exist. The proposed library in Jackson Park, Chicago, will not be fully
constructed until 2021. So where are the records? Physically speaking,
where are the records? Are the records at the construction site? What
constitutes the Obama Library, as an entity, at this point in time?
What purpose do these records serve in an Obama library? Will the
museum feature a “Surveilling Trump” exhibit next to one about Obama’s
boyhood years in Hawaii? Will “Susan Rice’s Unmasking” play as an
in-house movie for library guests? By 2021, the left’s partisan hatred
might be formidable enough to make this a reality.
The federal government still owns the records, not the museum,
according to the National Archives website: “The United States shall
reserve and retain complete ownership, possession, and control of
Presidential records; and such records shall be administered in
accordance with the provisions of this chapter.”
The national Archivist has custody of the records, according to the
Archives site: “Upon the conclusion of a President’s term of office, or
if a President serves consecutive terms upon the conclusion of the last
term, the Archivist of the United States shall assume responsibility
for the custody, control, and preservation of, and access to, the
Presidential records of that President.”
Since the NSC cited the five-year confidentiality window, that means
the only thing specifically hiding the records is the Presidential
Records Act, which has certain exceptions.
Darmaris Dunham
From what I read below a special prosecutor or DOJ (Sessions) can ask
for them per
Supreme
Court cases
Are the records closed to the public? Yes. But not closed to the
current president, Congress, or law enforcement officials who can get
the information and make it public themselves.
From the Archives website:
Ҥ 2205. Exceptions to restricted access
(2) subject to any rights, defenses, or privileges which the United
States or any agency or person may invoke, Presidential records shall
be made available–
(A) pursuant to subpoena or other judicial process issued by a court of
competent jurisdiction for the purposes of any civil or criminal
investigation or proceeding;
(B) to an incumbent President if such records contain information that
is needed for the conduct of current business of the incumbent
President’s office and that is not otherwise available; and
(C) to either House of Congress, or, to the extent of matter within its
jurisdiction, to any committee or subcommittee thereof if such records
contain information that is needed for the conduct of its business and
that is not otherwise available; and”
There are a number of ways the Trump administration can choose to get
at the records. Importantly, the House Intelligence Committee subpoenas
should still bear fruit. Devin Nunes might just have to add the Obama
Library and the national Archivist to the subpoena list.
[IBD]
