Just a little reminder that Trump’s staffers work for the U.S. government, not Trump. I doubt very much these NDAs are enforceable:
In the early months of the administration, at the behest of now-President Trump, who was furious over leaks from within the White House, senior White House staff members were asked to, and did, sign nondisclosure agreements vowing not to reveal confidential information and exposing them to damages for any violation. Some balked at first but, pressed by then-Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and the White House Counsel’s Office, ultimately complied, concluding that the agreements would likely not be enforceable in any event.
[…] Moreover, said the source, this confidentiality pledge would extend not only after an aide’s White House service but also beyond the Trump presidency. “It’s not meant to be constrained by the four years or eight years he’s president — or the four months or eight months somebody works there. It is meant to survive that.”
This is extraordinary. Every president inveighs against leakers and bemoans the kiss-and-tell books; no president, to my knowledge, has attempted to impose such a pledge. And while White House staffers have various confidentiality obligations — maintaining the secrecy of classified information or attorney-client privilege, for instance — the notion of imposing a side agreement, supposedly enforceable even after the president leaves office, is not only oppressive but constitutionally repugnant.
Unlike employees of private enterprises such as the Trump Organization or Trump campaign, White House aides have First Amendment rights when it comes to their employer, the federal government. If you have a leaker on your staff, the cure is firing, not suing.
You’re absolutely right, they’re unenforceable.
According to Steve Bannon Trump’s intention is to take down the “state.”
If he’s successful he’d be the last man standing.
That’s the dream of every undemocratic authoritarian in history who would be king.
But what’s actually happening is that while Trump is busy taking the “state” down,
the state is actively working to take him down.
So…..the American people are stuck in the middle of a zero-sum-game.
“Fools to the Left of us and jokers to the Right.”
You know there is such a thing as the Freedom of Information Act, and the Presidential Records Act.
Fergus just acts like he’s the very first person to ever think about these things.