House Democrats demand Trump preserve AI chatbot records

Presidential records demand

Reps. Robert Garcia and Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrats on the House Oversight and Judiciary committees, sent a formal letter to Trump on Thursday pressing for the preservation of all AI interactions. The lawmakers asserted that prompts submitted by the president and his staff, along with the generated responses, constitute presidential records under the Presidential Records Act and must be archived accordingly.

Venezuela consultation reports

The demand follows reports that Trump sought advice from Grok — the artificial intelligence chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s social media platform X — regarding United States military actions in Venezuela. Garcia and Raskin highlighted past controversies surrounding the technology, noting public concerns about the chatbot’s design and output before X implemented corrective changes.

Minab strike cited

The legislators drew a direct line between AI counsel and operational outcomes, referencing a Feb. 28 strike on an elementary school in Minab, Iran, that killed approximately 175 people, most of them schoolgirls aged 12 or younger. "If the American President is relying on the policy advice of a Musk-designed, Hitler-friendly chatbot with a predilection for child pornography in order to carry out his official duties, Americans have a right to know," they wrote.

The lawmakers added: "If the United States military killed dozens of innocent schoolchildren based on the faulty advice of an AI chatbot, we have a right to know that too." Garcia and Raskin also requested a closed-door briefing on Trump’s use of AI chatbots and White House policies regarding the securing and monitoring of AI prompts.