2026-04-14T22:13:37.673Z / 美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）
作者：蒂尔尼·斯尼德
发布时间：2026年4月14日，美国东部时间下午6:13
2025年10月14日，一名男子坐在华盛顿特区国家档案馆大楼外。
比尔·克拉克/CQ《国会山报》/盖蒂图片社/档案照片
起诉特朗普政府规避水门时代总统档案保留法案的历史学家于周二表示，国家档案馆不愿同意在诉讼期间不销毁相关总统档案。
美国历史学会上周提起诉讼，寻求紧急法院命令，此举起因于美国司法部一份备忘录称《总统档案法》违宪。
《总统档案法》要求总统及其工作人员妥善保管白宫档案，并在任期结束后将这些档案移交给国家档案馆。
该法案在导致唐纳德·特朗普总统因涉嫌不当处理其第一任期结束时从白宫带走的机密文件而遭到起诉的一系列事件中起到了关键作用。
本月早些时候，为行政部门提供法律咨询的司法部办公室表示，该机构已认定该法案违宪。司法部法律顾问办公室出具的这份意见告知总统，他不再有义务遵守该法案。
在周二提交的法庭文件中，与左翼政府透明度组织“美国监督”共同参与此案的历史学家们表示，如果没有法院干预，他们用于研究的总统档案“将无法挽回地丢失”。
“司法部无权指示总统无视符合宪法要求的法案，其关于总统可以无视该法案的指令违反了三权分立原则，”原告方在文件中写道。
相关报道 美国司法部的这张照片显示，存放在海湖庄园浴室和淋浴间内的机密文件箱。美国司法部 特朗普政府告知特朗普离任后可保留政府文件，与水门时代法案相悖 阅读时长7分钟
根据提交的文件，原告的一名律师曾联系司法部，寻求确保在案件审理期间总统档案不会被销毁。文件中附上的一封邮件显示，司法部表示无法同意这些要求，因为它“尚未就政府处理这些问题的方式作出额外表述”。
具体而言，原告曾要求国家档案馆同意不销毁其依据该法案保管的档案。他们还希望达成协议，让档案馆继续按照《总统档案法》的规定，向公众提供此前各届政府——包括特朗普第一任期——的总统文件查询服务。
他们还要求获得以下保障：白宫工作人员将妥善保管该法案涵盖的文件，行政人员也将遵守该法案中关于保留Signal、WhatsApp等即时通讯应用程序通讯记录的要求。
司法部和国家档案馆均未立即回应CNN的置评请求。白宫将记者的置评请求转至司法部。白宫此前曾表示，特朗普“致力于保留其本届历史性政府的档案，他将推行严格的档案留存计划”。
“工作人员应留存反映其履职情况、可建立行政记录、具有历史意义或可能在诉讼中需要的材料，”白宫发言人阿比盖尔·杰克逊在4月3日的一份声明中说道，但该声明并未承诺最终会将这些档案移交给国家档案馆。
“政府已在就后续推进事宜与国家档案馆进行讨论，”她在提及国家档案馆时表示。
针对特朗普的机密文件起诉在2024年特朗普连任后终止，当时驳回指控的裁决仍在上诉中。特朗普对国家档案馆的不满情绪显然持续存在，他在去年重返白宫后解雇了时任国家档案馆馆长，尽管该馆长是在机密文件调查结束后才上任的。
历史学家们目前正在寻求一项初步法院命令，禁止销毁总统档案，并要求白宫工作人员通过官方渠道留存任何通过加密通讯应用程序发送的履职相关通讯。
美国地区法官贝里尔·豪厄尔已迅速下令各方提交案情摘要时间表，供她审议此项请求。
Historians suing Trump administration say National Archives won’t commit to preserving presidential records during lawsuit
2026-04-14T22:13:37.673Z / CNN
By Tierney Sneed
PUBLISHED Apr 14, 2026, 6:13 PM ET
A man sits outside of the National Archives building in Washington, DC on October 14, 2025.
Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc./Getty Images/File
The historians who are suing over the Trump administration’s eschewal of a Watergate-era records retention law for presidential documents said Tuesday that the National Archives won’t agree not to destroy those records while their case is litigated.
The American Historical Association is seeking an emergency court order in a lawsuit it filed last week in the wake of a Justice Department memo that said the Presidential Records Act is unconstitutional.
The Presidential Records Act requires presidents and their staff to preserve White House records and turn those records over to the National Archives at the end of their administrations.
The law was instrumental in the chain of events that led to President Donald Trump’s prosecution for allegedly mishandling classified documents that he took from the White House at the end of his first term.
Earlier this month, a Justice Department office that gives legal advice to the executive branch said it had concluded the law was unconstitutional. The opinion, from the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel, told the president he was no longer obligated to comply with it.
In filings Tuesday, the historians — who are being joined in the case by the left-leaning government transparency group American Oversight — said that, absent a court intervention, presidential records they intend to use for their research “will be irretrievably lost.”
“DOJ has no authority to direct the President to ignore a constitutionally-compliant statute, and its instruction that the President may do so violates the separation of powers,” the challengers wrote.
Related article This photo from the US Justice Department shows boxes of classified documents stored in a bathroom and shower in the Mar-a-Lago Club. US Department of Justice Trump’s DOJ tells Trump he can hold onto government docs when he leaves office, contrary to Watergate-era law 7 min read
A lawyer for the plaintiffs had reached out to the Justice Department seeking assurances that presidential records wouldn’t be destroyed while the case played out, according to the filings. The Justice Department said that it could not agree to those stipulations because it was “not yet in a position to make additional representations about the Government’s approach to those issues,” according to an email exchange included in the filings.
Specifically, the challengers had asked the National Archives to agree that it would not destroy records it maintains under the law. They also wanted an agreement that the Archives would continue to make presidential documents from prior administrations — including the first Trump term — available for public records request, as contemplated by the Presidential Records Act.
They asked for assurances that White House staff will preserve documents covered under the law and that administration personnel would also follow the law’s requirements for preserving communications sent on messaging apps like Signal and WhatsApp.
Neither the Justice Department nor the National Archives immediately responded to CNN request for comment. The White House referred CNN to the DOJ on the latest filings. The White House previously said that Trump “is committed to preserving records from his historic Administration and he will maintain a rigorous records retention program.”
“Staff should retain materials that reflect the performance of their duties, establish an administrative record, are of historical significance, or may be needed in litigation,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in an April 3 statement that stopped short of committing that those documents would eventually be handed over to the National Archives.
“The administration is already discussing with NARA how to move forward,” she said, referring to the National Archives.
The classified documents prosecution against Trump was shut down after he won reelection in 2024, and while a ruling dismissing the charges was still on appeal. Trump’s bitter feelings towards the National Archives apparently continued, and he fired the Archivist that in place when he returned to the White House last year, even though she did not take the role until after the classified documents investigation.
The historians are now seeking a preliminary court order that would block the destruction of presidential records and that would require White House staff to preserve on official channels any communications related to their duties that are sent on encrypted messaging apps.
US District Judge Beryl Howell quickly ordered that the parties come up with a briefing schedule for her to consider the request.
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