'Presidential' Records? Examining the Impact of the Presidential Records Act on President Trump’s Use of a Personal Twitter Account

This Article explores the unprecedented nature of President Trump’s tweets, both during his candidacy and after he assumed the presidency. It focuses on two accounts President Trump maintains, the official @POTUS account and his personal @realDonaldTrump account. The Article examines the ability of the Presidential Records Act to preserve an accurate and fulsome historical record of communications from the president, in light of his use of twitter in modern day environment. In consequence, the Article evaluates the nature of the differences between the two accounts and examines the restrictions between the office of the President and the individual. The Article concludes that President Trump’s use of his @realDonaldTrump account warrants the same consideration under the Presidential Records Act as his @POTUS account, due to the nature of the communications and the president’s frequent use of it to communicate with the American people. President Trump is acting in his capacity as president when he tweets from his personal account. The Article urges an interpretation of the Presidential Records Act that addresses the issues raised by the president’s use of twitter and, if necessary, urges Congress to amend the Presidential Records Act to regulate the President’s use of his personal twitter account.