The newly operational Trump Presidential Library claims it cannot turn up a single Twitter direct message sent by Donald Trump during his first term in office — a striking claim given that court records confirm such messages exist.
In response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by The Washington Post at 12:01 a.m. on January 20, 2025 — exactly five years after the end of Trump's first term — the library stated it had been "unable to locate any records" related to any direct message sent from Trump's @realDonaldTrump or @POTUS accounts. The request covered the entirety of his first administration, during which Trump sent more than 25,000 public tweets.
The no-records response stands in direct contradiction to evidence produced in federal court, the newspaper reported. During special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, Twitter complied with a warrant and handed over at least 32 direct messages sent to or from the @realDonaldTrump account between October 2020 and January 2021. A Twitter attorney confirmed to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that "there are confidential communications" in the account.
The gap between what the library claims and what the courts have documented raises serious questions about compliance with the Presidential Records Act — a law enacted in 1978 requiring departing presidents to transfer all official communications to the National Archives. The act explicitly covers messages sent via any software or application, including social media platforms.
Records show the failure to preserve Trump's direct messages was not accidental. A January 2021 government notice revealed plans to use ArchiveSocial software to capture presidential social media activity. However, then-Archivist David Ferriero confirmed in a 2022 letter to Congress that the Trump administration had "opted not to enable capture of direct messages" within that system.
The issue has been further complicated by the current Trump administration's aggressive posture against the Presidential Records Act itself. In April, the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel published an opinion calling the law unconstitutional, arguing that Congress had overstepped its authority in passing it. White House counsel subsequently issued guidance telling staff that preserving text messages was only required when they represented the sole record of an official decision.
Legal challenges to that position are now before the federal courts, with a judge having already ordered the White House to comply with the law while litigation proceeds. The Washington Post has appealed the library's no-records response and requested a more thorough search.
