Has Trump’s Tweeting Finally Broken The Law? (VIDEO)

President Donald Trump’s use of Twitter may have finally gone too far. But this time, it’s not the content of his many hateful, controversial tweets that’s an issue.

Rather, the problem is that Trump deleted content from the popular social media platform, potentially violating the Presidential Records Act of 1978.

The trouble began just last month on the day after his inauguration. In a post-inauguration tweet, Trump misspelled the word “honored” as “honered.”

Image via Twitter.

The tweet was initially posted on Jan. 21 and deleted within 24 hours. A corrected tweet reading that he was “honored” to serve was later posted.

It was not the first time Trump misspelled something on Twitter. In fact, it’s not even the first time he’s misspelled “honored.”

Trump has had no qualms about deleting tweets containing glaring linguistic gaffes in the past, but this is the first time he’s done so as president.

And that’s the problem.

According to the Presidential Records Act, White House records that have “administrative, historical, informational, or evidentiary value” cannot be disposed of before consultation with the Archivist of the United States. Such a description covers basically every presidential tweet.

Some might suppose that because Trump’s now-deleted tweet was published on his original, private handle (@realDonaldTrump) rather than his official handle (@POTUS), the deletion doesn’t violate the law. However, prior to Trump’s inauguration, a spokesperson with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) confirmed that no matter what account Trump uses, the administration must conform to NARA rules.

Shontavia Johnson, professor of intellectual property law at Drake University, agrees that Trump’s deletions constitute a legal violation.

“The PRA does not allow the president to get rid of any presidential records without the written permission of the archivist. And presidential records that have ‘administrative, historical, informational, or evidentiary value,’ cannot be destroyed at all.”

It’s doubtful that Trump will actually be prosecuted for his tweet deletion. Presidents have long taken extraordinary steps to avoid complying with the law.

George W. Bush, for instance, issued an executive order that restricted access to White House records. And, during President Obama’s administration, his staff regularly communicated with lobbyists using private email accounts, rather than official government accounts, to avoid having their emails archived.

Featured image via YouTube video.