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Alex Brandon

White House ordered to save all of Trump's tweets - even the ones he deleted or changed

The 45th president of the US has been using two different accounts since his inauguration.

THE US NATIONAL Archives has ordered the White House to keep each of President Donald Trump’s tweets, even those he deletes or corrects.

The head of the archives, David S Ferriero, told two Democratic senators in a letter last week that the White House has assured him it’s saving all Trump’s Twitter tirades.

The archives contacted the White House about the matter because the Presidential Records Act requires such correspondence to be preserved for history. Ferriero did not say when the agency contacted White House officials to remind them about the records requirement.

The archivist’s letter, dated 30 March, doesn’t describe precisely how the White House is saving Trump’s tweets. The Obama administration used an automated system to isolate and preserve copies of President Barack Obama’s tweets.

McCaskill and Carper raised the issue of Trump’s online presence in early March following a spate of instances in which the president had deleted or altered earlier messages. The two senators had previously raised concerns about Trump’s tweets in a letter to White House counsel Don McGahn.

Preserved

The two senators also pressed the archives for information about reports that some White House staffers had been ordered to avoid emails or use smartphone apps that do not preserve emails because of Trump administration concerns about leaks to the media.

Ferriero told them he was aware of those press reports but said that White House guidance “to all employees expressly forbids the use of such apps”. Ferriero also said he was not aware of government officials who have been instructed to avoid using email as a method of work-related communication.

Trump’s almost-daily use of his official Twitter account and his separate private account has been heavily scrutinised by the media and by political friends and foes since his November election and even more so since his inauguration.

Trump Twitter Trump's personal account. J. David Ake / PA J. David Ake / PA / PA

Three minutes before he took the oath of office in January, Trump tweeted from his private account that he was “honered to serve you, the great American people, as your 45th President of the United States.” The misspelled word in the tweet was later altered to “honored” and then the tweet was deleted entirely.

Trump repeatedly criticised Democratic president opponent Hillary Clinton for her extensive use of private emails when she was secretary of state in the Obama administration.

According to an agenda of the 2 February briefing with White House officials, archives general counsel Gary Stern and John Laster, director of the agency’s presidential materials division, explained that the president and White House counsel were “solely responsible for managing presidential records”.

The role of the archives, they added, is mostly advisory, but presidential records can only be disposed of after the White House consults the archivist in writing.

Read: Syria airstrike: Donald Trump’s 180 degree shift on attacking the Assad regime >

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16 Comments
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    Mute james
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    Apr 9th 2017, 12:44 PM

    Future generations of school children will be inspired to enter politics because of the pure leadership conveyed in each and every one of those tweets ………Said no one ever.SAD.

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    Mute Tweety McTweeter
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    Apr 9th 2017, 12:47 PM

    @james: This is a dark, dark time in America’s history

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    Mute john Appleseed
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    Apr 9th 2017, 12:57 PM

    Maybe future generations of children will be learning where it all went wrong…

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    Mute Guybrush Threepwood
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    Apr 9th 2017, 1:13 PM

    @john Appleseed: I think children have been learning that for decades.

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    Mute Pheilum Shannon
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    Apr 9th 2017, 1:59 PM

    @Tweety McTweeter: not just America’s history. It is a dark time in the history of mankind! The Earth itself is suffering at the hands of humanity, and we are doing very little to reverse the effects of our consumption. We should at the very least be looking at fuel, paper, plastic alternatives made from hemp. As long as big corporations rule the World, we will continue digging our own graves as well as the graves of every other species we share the planet with.

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    Mute Henry Matthews
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    Apr 9th 2017, 1:09 PM

    Meanwhile in good ole Ireland commissioner can shred bags of documents. .destroy simcards and then replacement can stay and investigate herself. ..but keep on slagging trump..nothing to see here

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    Mute Deborah Behan
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    Apr 9th 2017, 1:31 PM

    @Henry Matthews: you’re dead right there Henry.

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    Mute Jack Cassady
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    Apr 9th 2017, 1:45 PM

    They should be preserved for posterity so future generations of Americans can research how America became great again.

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    Mute DaisyChainsaw
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    Apr 9th 2017, 1:09 PM

    Sad, eh Trumplethinskin? All your batshit bitching at 3am preserved in perpetuity!

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    Mute John003
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    Apr 9th 2017, 1:11 PM

    Too early to judge Trump yet….Lets see how his two presidential terms go….

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    Mute Guybrush Threepwood
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    Apr 9th 2017, 1:15 PM

    @John003: Not to early at all considering he’s been sharing his political views for years now. If his actions prove otherwise, judgement can be altered.

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    Mute Deborah Behan
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    Apr 9th 2017, 1:35 PM

    @Guybrush Threepwood: well he’s just made it legal to hunt bears as they hibernate, kill wolves when they’re with their young, made lead bullets legal again and made asbestos legal to build with again. So I don’t know about you but I’m judging the shit out of him.

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    Mute No To Forced Births!
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    Apr 9th 2017, 1:43 PM

    “Too early to judge Trump yet ….Lets see how his two presidential terms go….”

    I’ve judged that he’s doing more flip flops than a factory in China..

    Let’s see how his two presidential terms go ..LOL

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    Mute justanothertaxpayer
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    Apr 9th 2017, 3:46 PM

    @DaisyChainsaw: I heard he doesn’t drink so am even more in awe of the shite he comes out with at 3 am.
    At least I have an excuse for my post night out musings

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    Mute Anthony Ross
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    Apr 9th 2017, 3:05 PM

    Trump is a bozo

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    Mute Diarmuid
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    Apr 9th 2017, 4:07 PM

    Twitter should block this idiot. He has clearly violated its terms of use. Let him freak out on another platform for a while.

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