Fact Check: Donald Trump’s Latest Speech at Mar-a-Lago
Trump Wrong About Presidential Records Act
Former President Donald Trump’s speech to supporters after he was arraigned on charges of falsifying business records in Manhattan contained false claims, many of which have already been debunked. While addressing the federal investigation into his handling of official documents and the August search of Mar-a-Lago, Trump claimed that the Presidential Records Act requires prolonged negotiations for the return of documents.
However, this is not true. The Presidential Records Act’s rule is that once a president leaves the office, his administration’s presidential records come under the custody and control of the National Archives and Records Administration. Therefore, there is no need for negotiation between a former president and NARA over the documents’ return.
A former NARA director, Jason R. Baron, called Trump out on this statement and described his description of the Act as a “matter of fantasy.” Trump’s claims that the law is designed to protect him are ludicrous since no presidential records should be transferred from the National Archives.
Distorted Claims about Soros and Supporting Campaigners
Trump mentioned George Soros while criticizing District Attorney Alvin Bragg in his speech, accusing him of being a “radical left, George Soros-backed prosecutor.” Soros had no donations towards Bragg’s 2021 election campaign, and there’s no evidence that Soros had any role in Bragg’s decision to prosecute Trump.
However, Soros has been funding Color of Change PAC, which supports Democratic district attorneys in favour of criminal justice reform. The PAC spent a little over $500,000 on independent expenditure on Bragg’s candidacy, which contributed to his victory in the election.
The president of Color of Change, Rashad Robinson, debunked Trump’s accusations and called both the accusations and attacks on Soros as “anti-Semitic” and “anti-Black.”
False Claims About Presidential Records
Trump has repeatedly made this false claim that every former president took government documents with them upon leaving the office. He uses this argument to defend his handling of presidential documents that are under investigation by the government.
However, there is no proof that past presidents did anything like what Trump did, and after 1981, the Presidential Records Act requires that the National Archives and Records Administration, which operates under the supervision of the Archivist of the United States, gets custody of all presidential records as soon as possible after a president leaves the office. Therefore, Trump continued to house presidential documents that belonged to the public despite NARA’s numerous attempts and the Justice Department to get them back.
Georgia Phone Calls Investigation
Trump also continued to make claims that he’s being investigated by Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis over a “perfect” phone call he made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. He urged Raffensperger to find enough votes to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
Trump claimed that there was nothing wrong with the conversation until months later, where the book was launched, and people started criticising its content. However, this is untrue, and the phone call was considered controversial at the time it was first reported. Raffensperger and other state officials said that Trump was pressuring him to overturn the election results.
Credit: cnn.com
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