He did it with the expectation based on what prior Presidents did.
People's due process rights don't begin and end, they are inherent and exist perpetually with the expectation that they are acting lawfully. People only invoke them when they are questioned.
-PJ
I can’t find where he started making those claims until long after the first requests. In 2022 earliest. Archives made the request in 2021. I agree that people have rights. And should exercise them. But if the library asks me to return a book, I do. Or if I disagree the book needs returned, I pushback. If Trump believes they were overstepping their boundaries, it doesn’t appear he did much about it prior to FBI involvement. Could be wrong but it appears he just ignored the Archives and their requests. I can’t find anything that has him doing that. Even after a long period of time (7 months) he finally partially complies. But in that partial compliance, I can’t find where he was asserting they were his and his alone. Then through legal representation, he asserted he had totally complied. His positions on this seem to form shift more than a science fiction character.