TRUMP’S OVERDUE LIBRARY BOOK ARGUMENT

 

©Wendell Griffen, 2022

 

Donald Trump’s legal team has argued to a federal judge that the US Justice Department’s arguments surrounding Trump’s removal of government records and classified files from the White House to his Mar-a-Lago resort residence in Palm Beach, Florida, and continued possession of those items after he left the White House January 20, 2021, amount to complaining about “an overdue library book.” 

Here is what is wrong with Trump’s assertion.

Before a library book patron can have an “overdue” book, the patron must first get permission from the library to take the item from the library and agree to return it to the library by a given date. Library material cannot be taken at whim. It must be “checked out.”

Trump had no authority, let alone permission, to remove property of the United States from the White House to anywhere else after noon on January 20, 2021, when his presidency ended. He had no authority or permission to remove artifacts from the White House. He had no authority or permission to remove government documents, whether they were classified or not.  

Trump’s “overdue library book” argument amounts to saying that stealing library material and failing to return material one checked out by its return date are the same.

That argument is worse than legally unsound.

It is worse than moronic.

It is ridiculous.