Who keeps the records when a president asks a chatbot for advice?

When a president asks a chatbot for advice, can the conversation simply be deleted? That question lies behind a letter two Democrats in the US Congress sent to Donald Trump on October 29, 2026.

The letter was written by Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, and Robert Garcia, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee. They are demanding that the White House preserve all prompts (what you type to the chatbot) and responses that the president and his staff have used in AI tools such as Grok, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity.

Report on Grok and Venezuela

The demand is based on a Time report from October 1, 2026. According to the report, which relies on an anonymous official, Trump asked the chatbot Grok how Venezuelans would react to Maduro being captured. Grok is said to have predicted that they would welcome his fall. Trump then ordered the operation in January.

The same report says that during a meeting in the Oval Office in December, Trump spent hours with Elon Musk asking Grok questions about his presidency and legacy. The report is based on an anonymous source, and the information has not been independently confirmed.

The Democrats stress that Trump ordered military action against Venezuela without congressional approval. They call the situation "deeply troubling" and write that the president consulted Grok, but not Congress.

Why it comes down to records

The Democrats cite the Presidential Records Act, a law on the preservation of presidential records. They argue that AI prompts and responses fall under the records that must be preserved. That is their interpretation, and it has not been settled here whether the law actually applies to chatbot conversations. They also argue that preservation is essential to an accurate historical record.

They also point to national security risks if prompts and advice are stored on servers at private companies. According to them, AI is highly manipulable and error-prone.

In July, the Pentagon signed a multimillion-dollar deal to integrate Grok into the government's AI tools.

Deadline and response

The Democrats are asking for a closed briefing on the president's use of AI by 5 p.m. on November 11, 2026. They also want information on the White House's records retention policy, AI contracts and cybersecurity.

The demand comes from minority members and is not legally binding. A White House official says the White House preserves all required records in accordance with the law. The official does not deny that the president uses AI chatbots.