Public Advocate Williams questions whether deleted messages break any law

Thank you very much.

I really appreciate what you had to say, Public Advocate Williams, and then Councilmember Wilson.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

As everyone knows, I have a great respect for this administration.

So it upsets me that they have me agreeing with Councilman McCarr very much.

But I am also disappointed that the communications of folks who should be here are not.

I am coming from the point of view that I don't know that anything was wrong, done wrong.

But there were questions that were raised by this article that I believe the public should hear answers to so that they can feel sure that nothing wrong occurred.

But the fact that the correct folks aren't here doesn't really help that story.

And so I don't know what to say except the right people should be here.

So that we can ask questions and people can hear the answers.

And so it is frustrating that that hasn't happened.

But I do want to ask some questions about what was testified.

And I will say my belief is that most elected officials are struggling with this.

So having a better understanding is really important.

I just want to be clear.

Is it?

Is it the understanding of the law that messages through text, through signal, through WhatsApp do not have to be retained because of the nature of the communication?

Thank you for the question, Public Advocate Williams.

The nature of how a record is structured and how we define records and the nature of using instant messaging, any type of instant messaging, is that it is transitory and so there is no expectation for their attention.

I want to reclaim what that means, no expectation.

So if it's not retained, there's no law or policy that's been broken.

Is that what you're saying?

Thank you for that question.

That is correct.

No, please say more.

This is actually, I think, probably news to a lot of folks who are hearing it.

I think as we've struggled with this, retention has been more on the, leaning more on the retention side than not.

So I'm really interested in really fleshing this out.

So you can feel free to say more.