House Democrats Request Preservation of Trump's AI Chat Logs

Representatives Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Robert Garcia of California have formally requested that President Donald Trump preserve all official interactions with artificial intelligence chatbots. The letter, released on Oct. 30, asks the President to save every prompt and response generated while performing constitutional, statutory, or ceremonial duties. Raskin and Garcia specified that this includes exchanges with xAI’s Grok, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and Anthropic’s Claude.

The lawmakers set a deadline for a briefing on the matter by 5 p.m. on Nov. 11. If Democrats regain control of the House in next week’s midterm elections, Raskin is positioned to chair the Judiciary Committee and Garcia to lead the Oversight Committee. Their request serves as an early test of how the new leadership intends to examine the administration’s use of emerging technology.

The inquiry follows a report published earlier this month that detailed a private meeting between Trump and Elon Musk in the Oval Office in December 2025. According to an official present for the meeting, Trump spent hours questioning Grok about his presidency and legacy. At the time, the President was directing missile strikes against Venezuelan vessels accused of drug smuggling. He specifically asked the chatbot how Venezuelans would react if the United States captured President Nicolás Maduro.

The official stated that Grok described Maduro as a repressive and deeply unpopular dictator whose removal many citizens would likely celebrate. The following month, Trump ordered a military operation to seize Maduro. Celebrations erupted in Venezuelan streets after the capture. Officials familiar with the President’s thinking indicated that he came away from the December session convinced that Grok was ingenious.

In their letter, Raskin and Garcia cited the reporting that Trump sought advice from Grok on presidential duties. They noted that just weeks after the consultation, Trump ordered the U.S. military to attack Venezuela and capture Maduro without congressional authorization. The lawmakers called the episode deeply troubling. They argued that consulting Grok instead of Congress circumvented the legislative branch’s constitutional power to declare war.

The representatives warned that the White House’s use of AI exposes the United States to acute national security risks. They stated that the practice leaves the country vulnerable to malign influence from unknown and unaccountable third parties. They described the technology as highly manipulable and demonstrably error-prone in the context of foreign policy decision-making.

A Trump Administration official said the White House preserves all required records in accordance with the law. The official declined to answer specific questions stemming from the letter. A spokesperson for Musk did not respond to requests for comment. The legal basis for the demand rests on the Presidential Records Act, enacted after Watergate. The law requires presidential records to be filed separately from personal materials and extends to electronic records under 2014 amendments.