Tony Clark
@anthonyclark.bsky.social
3.3K followers 1.2K following 6K posts
Writer. Former senior Hill staffer, consultant, and campaign staffer; and executive branch civil servant, contractor, and volunteer. More than just the NARA / presidential libraries / presidential and federal records guy.
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anthonyclark.bsky.social
*DEVELOPING*: I've updated my scoop with previously unreported details about the State Dept. staffer who requested the sword, NARA's response, and that the gift Trump gave King Charles III wasn't even a replica of Eisenhower's West Point Officer's Sabre:
lastcampaign.substack.com/p/exclusive-...
anthonyclark.bsky.social
To give you an idea of the scale, it would have been 5.124 of these
anthonyclark.bsky.social
In and of itself, it's not.

If they weren't copying an official account, or forwarding the message to an official account, then it would be a violation.
anthonyclark.bsky.social
While it's possible they're not taking the additional steps the statute requires, it's not—in and of itself—a violation of the PRA to use non-official electronic messaging accounts to conduct official business.
anthonyclark.bsky.social
John Carpenter's The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes
anthonyclark.bsky.social
RON HOWARD'S VOICE: They don't.
anthonyclark.bsky.social
Dear @nytimes.com headline writers: every home in the United States is in a flood zone; not every home is in a floodplain.
nytimes.com headline

Government Shutdown Scrambles Some Home Sales in Flood Zones
4 min read
anthonyclark.bsky.social
Extra points to David Smiley for using "promising to" when describing the private Trump foundation, which is under no legal obligation to build anything, much less a federal presidential library (which, not for nothing, it won't be able to do, given the statutory requirements).
jilldlawrence.bsky.social
"In something of a shocker, fewer than 1 in 5 voters expressed support for Miami Dade College’s decision to give 2.6 acres of downtown land ... to the state, which in turn gave it to the foundation promising to build Donald Trump’s presidential library." 🎁 www.miamiherald.com/site-service...
New Miami-Dade poll insights + Hope Florida grand jury + Rubio’s path to power
It’s Monday, Oct. 6, and a new poll conducted last week by Bendixen & Amandi is shedding light on how Miami-Dade voters feel about some of the biggest developments — literally and figuratively — i...
www.miamiherald.com
anthonyclark.bsky.social
I cannot WAIT for my free mansion
carlquintanilla.bsky.social
ANDREESSEN: Even if AI ends up destroying all the jobs, “the result would be hyper-deflation of prices, which is the thing that people miss. .. Things that today cost a lot of money will all of a sudden be cheap or free.”

@fortune.com
fortune.com/2025/10/08/b...
anthonyclark.bsky.social
"Wow look at these numbers, see how terrible they are for Trump, grasp how underwater he is, understand just how close he is to rock bottom," said the pundit or the journalist or the talking head or the political scientist or the historian, gravely, while pressing an elevator button over and over.
Reposted by Tony Clark
anthonyclark.bsky.social
"the girlfriend of one of the founders of antifa"
Black-and-white portrait of Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd, Eleanor Roosevelt's social secretary and FDR's secret lover. Photo from FDR Library.
anthonyclark.bsky.social
The people who want these statues are the same ones who think that taking down statues is "erasing history."

So I guess that means we let them put up all these statues... then we take them down? 🤔
anthonyclark.bsky.social
My general beef: the political ecosphere requires many actors, including those who rouse or inform the base; but legislators should legislate. The attention seekers who don't turn what they grab into legislative and policy results waste other people's money and take up a seat a legislator could use.
anthonyclark.bsky.social
It's almost as if overly scripted, amateurishly performed, gimmicky antics designed just to "go viral" at hearings and not to rationally discuss a problem or discover the truth or further a legislative goal or uncover waste, fraud, or abuse being your one and only trick makes you a bad candidate. 🤔
yasharali.bsky.social
Someone who used to work with Katie Porter sent me this clip from a train wreck interview with her and said “now imagine what she’s like when there aren’t cameras around.”
anthonyclark.bsky.social
Well played right back at you.

Staying in the same circle, I'll raise you:

"the girlfriend of one of the founders of antifa"
Dorothy Donovan Hale, rumored to have been engaged to Harry Hopkins prior to her suicide in 1938.
anthonyclark.bsky.social
"the girlfriend of one of the founders of antifa"
Black-and-white portrait of Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd, Eleanor Roosevelt's social secretary and FDR's secret lover. Photo from FDR Library.
anthonyclark.bsky.social
I was flabbergasted to learn Laura Richardson made an inexplicable comeback last year and is now a California state Senator.

She's a former US Rep. who House Ethics unanimously found committed serious misconduct (and was exceedingly shitty to me).

*That's* the best you can do, CA Dems? 🤦🏼‍♂️ #SMDH
15

IV. FINDINGS OF THE COMMITTEE ON ETHICS AND REASONS FOR RECOMMENDED SANCTION

The Committee on Ethics adopts as its findings in this matter the Report of the Investigative Subcommittee, as attached.
Prior Committee precedent supports a recommendation of reprimand for conduct involving compelling official staff members to perform campaign work, using official resources for campaign pur-poses, using official resources for personal purposes, and obstruction of this Committee's investigation.
anthonyclark.bsky.social
And they were so committed to the bit that they went through with getting arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced, serving out their time like the good antifa operatives they are, never once letting on that they were imposters.
atrupar.com
Q: There's compelling proof that antifa did infiltrate on January 6 dressed up like Trump supporters and incited violence. Is that something you'd like the new J6 committee to look at?

TRUMP: Well I've heard that. Yeah. We will be acting on some of that.
anthonyclark.bsky.social
And in the records case, Smith prosecuted him for crimes he committed after he left office, so they couldn't possibly have been official acts anyway.
anthonyclark.bsky.social
I'm begging the journalists, pundits, political scientists, historians, and talking heads spouting very confidently tonight that in and of itself The Donald's use of Truth Social violates the Presidential Records Act to please, for the first time in their lives, read the Presidential Records Act.
anthonyclark.bsky.social
And someone who has been seeking the spotlight and on television for decades can't handle covering up his lack of knowledge any better than that.
anthonyclark.bsky.social
Have you seen The Other (1972)?
anthonyclark.bsky.social
The Guardian must have a lot of cash to burn!

(Earlier this year a US editor there offered me three times what I would normally get for a freelance article; I turned it down for another reason.)
anthonyclark.bsky.social
Every time Chuck says "Sit down and talk" an angel gets their wings cut off.
anthonyclark.bsky.social
The US didn't charge The Donald for anything having to do with the records' *classification* (the Espionage Act predates classification). The issue was the records' *content.*

Classified? May never willfully retain NDI.
Declassified? May never willfully NDI.
Unclassified? May never willfully NDI.