[Political Junkie Too]

Missing is Trump’s transmission to the Archives as to what was to be personal and presidential.

I see the confusion now. You misread the sentence. The judge could have used a few more commas to make it clear.

Although there is no formal means in the PRA by which a president is to make that categorization, an outgoing president’s decision to exclude what he/she considers to be personal records from presidential records transmitted to the National Archives and Records Administration constitutes a president’s categorization of those records as personal under the PRA.

Try reading it this way and it becomes clear.

Although there is no formal means in the PRA by which a president is to make that categorization, an outgoing president’s decision to exclude what he/she considers to be personal records, from presidential records transmitted to the National Archives and Records Administration, constitutes a president’s categorization of those records as personal under the PRA.

There is no itemized list of records that are sent to NARA as you originally read the sentence. The personal records are kept, and the rest of the "non-retained" records are "transmitted" (read: returned) to NARA as "Presidential records."

-PJ

[kiryandil]

I see the confusion now.

His "brother the lawyer" was never confused about the meaning.

Because he's a lawyer. Obfuscation is the name of the game, along with deliberate obtuseness.