The American Mind
•66% Informative
President Trump had the right to know every secret contained in the executive branch during his time in office, says Julian Zelizer .
Zelizer: As president, Donald Trump had every right to declassify and make public whatever documents or state secrets he chose while in office.
The Constitution places the executive power in the president, Zelizer says.
President Trump 's papers belong, in their entirety, to his successor, says Julian Zelizer .
Zelizer: The Presidential Records Act of 1978 says presidents must turn over all pertinent presidential records to the Archivist of the United States .
He says the law violates the president’s fundamental rights as well as due process of law, due process and the ability for the president to exercise authority over any decision within his office without running in violation of law.
Donald Trump had the power to take whatever documents he wished wherever he wished and show them to whoever he wished as president.
Their logic is entirely consistent with the Founders’ understanding of the role of the president in our constitutional order.
If Joe Biden can “reclassify” those documents in President Trump ’s possession, then Biden could just as easily classify any document whatsoever in anyone's possession as a matter of “state security”.
VR Score
68
Informative language
65
Neutral language
32
Article tone
semi-formal
Language
English
Language complexity
62
Offensive language
possibly offensive
Hate speech
not hateful
Attention-grabbing headline
not detected
Known propaganda techniques
detected
Time-value
medium-lived
External references
5
Source diversity
5
Affiliate links
no affiliate links