--- title: Donald Trump Deleted Twitter Posts. Can He Do That? description: Following Roy Moore's victory in the Alabama Republican Senate primary on Tuesday, President Trump deleted tweets from his personal account. canonical: https://time.com/4958877/donald-trump-deletes-tweets-legal-implications/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-27T18:06:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:53:59.061Z article:section: Politics og:title: Can Donald Trump Legally Delete Tweets? og:description: Here's what we know about the legal ramifications og:url: https://time.com/4958877/donald-trump-deletes-tweets-legal-implications/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d7e887a71e74e9a/6988df8c656a3f97fdbd1dca/donald-trump-luther-strange-tweets.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4500 og:image:height: 2531 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-TRUMP og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Can Donald Trump Legally Delete Tweets? twitter:description: Here's what we know about the legal ramifications twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d7e887a71e74e9a/6988df8c656a3f97fdbd1dca/donald-trump-luther-strange-tweets.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Just Deleted Tweets About Luther Strange. Is He Allowed to Do That? > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. Senior correspondent Philip Elliott brings sharp context to the issues driving the capital, connecting the decisions made in Washington to the institutions, industries and people they affect. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=e225d8b1-f2ac-4b04-983e-c6041c65241a&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The Legal Reasons Why President Trump Won't Take A Stand On Climate Change [Watch (HLS stream): The Legal Reasons Why President Trump Won't Take A Stand On Climate Change](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/mia6Tcb8.m3u8) (2:11)  _Published 2017-09-26. The Legal Reasons Why President Trump Won't Take A Stand On Climate Change_  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Sep 27, 2017 6:06 PM UTC  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Sep 27, 2017 6:06 PM UTC Following [Roy Moore’s](http://time.com/4958583/roy-moore-luther-strange-alabama-senate-run-off-donald-trump/) victory in the Alabama Republican Senate primary on Tuesday, President Trump [deleted tweets](http://time.com/4958763/donald-trump-twitter-roy-moore-luther-strange-alabama/) from his personal account about Sen. Luther Strange, whom he had endorsed in the primary. The tweets, which were [archived](https://projects.propublica.org/politwoops/user/POTUS) by ProPublica, urged Alabamans to “finish the job” and “vote today for Big Luther.” Trump also deleted an inaccurate tweet telling Moore to win in November; the general election is in December. This is not the first time Trump has deleted tweets, as ProPublica’s archive shows, though previous deleted tweets were largely because of typos and spelling errors. But it once again raises the question about the legal implications of a Commander-in-Chief deleting tweets, and whether it violates the Presidential Records Act of 1978, which mandates that the President and Vice President preserve all records. Experts, including one suing Trump for his pattern of deleting tweets, say this time was not a violation because his tweets were about national politics rather than the presidency. “I’m not convinced that’s a violation \[of the Presidential Records Act\],” said Anne Weismann, chief Freedom of Information Act counsel for the accountability groups Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which has filed a lawsuit claiming Trump’s deleting of tweets violate the PRA. The Presidential Records Act [mandates](https://www.archives.gov/about/laws/presidential-records.html) that a President’s official records must be preserved during his or her time in office, and are subsequently handed over to the national archivist, who would make them available to the public after the term ends. There are no explicit references to social media accounts in the act — although one Congressman, Rep. Mike Quigley, introduced an act in Congress that would amend the PRA to include it — and no cases have been litigated about it because Barack Obama was the first President to use Twitter. However, the list of materials designated for preservation in the PRA include digital forms of records, which some legal experts believe is sufficient grounds for arguing that deleting a tweet is a violation. The National Archives wrote in an e-mail to TIME that they have advised the White House to preserve all of Trump’s deleted tweets and that the White House is complying. “The National Archives has advised the White House that it should capture and preserve all tweets that the President posts in the course of his official duties, including those that are subsequently deleted, as Presidential records, and the National Archives has been informed by White House officials that they are, in fact, doing so,” a spokeswoman for the National Archives wrote. However, the PRA states that the President does not need to preserve personal records, which include “materials relating to private political associations, and having no relation to or direct effect upon the carrying out of constitutional, statutory, or other official or ceremonial duties of the President.” In other words, Trump’s tweets about Strange don’t necessarily relate to his work as _President_, but as the de facto head of the Republican Party — so he doesn’t have to preserve them. “He’s head of the party and serves in a political party and serves in a political capacity. They were sent in support of the candidate for office and I think they are not presidential records,” said Weismann. An attorney who worked for the White House during the Obama Administration echoed these sentiments, explaining that Trump deleting tweets about Strange is a different situation legally than hypothetically deleting something like his recent tweets about Puerto Rico. “That would be a violation of the Presidential Records Act because those tweets were obviously official,” the lawyer explained. Both experts cautioned however, that these series of tweets were atypical, and Trump’s habit of deleting tweets is a violation of the PRA. “If he put a statement on a White House website nobody would doubt he could take the statement down and destroy it,” said the former White House lawyer. ” That’s a presidential record, and I don’t see how the fact that he uses a different medium other than posting it on the White House website means it’s anything less than the presidential statement.” ## Transcript As a candidate Donald Trump had no problem giving his opinion about climate change. So Obama's talking about all of this with the global warming, and a lot of it's a hoax, it's a hoax, I mean it's a money making industry okay . >> But as president he won't say what he things and neither will his administration. The president himself during the campaign called climate change a hoax. Have you had that conversation with him? I have not had that conversation with him. He no longer believes what he tweeted during the course of the campaign in years earlier, that it's a hoax? Look, you're gonna have to ask him. I'll ask it one more time. Does he believe global warming's a hoax? Does he believe- You should ask him that. When asked their own opinions, other members of the Trump administration generally agree the climate is changing and humans may play a role. Climate is changing, it always has. Man at this particular point in time is having an effect on it, how much effect is what's at debate here. So why is Trump himself so cagey? Part of it is political, polls show the majority of Americans believe global warming is real and is caused by human activities. Part of it personal, Trump does not like to admit he was wrong about an issue in the past As can be seen from his brief and begrudging admission this his crusade over President Obama's birth certificate was mistaken. President Barack Obama was born in the United States, period. But there's a legal reason too. The Environmental Protection Agency has found that the greenhouse gases, which cause climate change Are a form of pollution that endanger human health and wellbeing. And thanks to a 2007 Supreme Court ruling, that means the EPA must act on those findings. If the Trump Administration were to say climate change isn't real it would be open to lawsuits from environmentalists for not acting on its own EPA findings. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is careful to say that it's real in some form. I indicated That in fact global warming is occurring. That human activity contributes to it in some manner. That doesn't mean the EPA has to keep the Obama administration's plans in place. In fact members of the Trump adminstration have been steadily rolling back regulations designed to fight climate change. They just can't say they're doing that. Because climate change isn't real. [ MUSIC ] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4958877/donald-trump-deletes-tweets-legal-implications/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4958877/donald-trump-deletes-tweets-legal-implications/"},"headline":"President Trump Just Deleted Tweets About Luther Strange. 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