“Defendants today instructed relevant personnel to preserve the information,” Justice Department lawyers told a federal judge in a court filing.

The question of whether the White House was preserving the information arose in federal court Tuesday, following government transparency and historical archivist groups’ emergency request to maintain the notes from the Trump-Volodymyr Zelensky July 25 call and other Trump discussions with world leaders.

The groups had sued Trump and his executive office in May for failing to document at least five meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and one with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The Justice Department noted Wednesday that relevant documents would be protected while the lawsuit over White House note-taking continues, and White House staff was already told in February 2017 to keep all presidential records, either in hard-copy or electronic.