The National Archives revealed that some of the documents that former President Donald Trump took with him on his way out of the White House were marked as classified—and some pertained to national security matters.
David S. Ferriero, the national archivist, wrote in a Friday letter to Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) that the agency had found the classified documents in 15 boxes of records that had been handed over, confirming previous news reports. “Because NARA identified classified information in the boxes, NARA staff has been in communication with the Department of Justice,” he said.
“NARA has asked the representatives of former President Trump to continue to search for any additional Presidential records that have not been transferred to NARA, as required by the Presidential Records Act,” Ferriero added.
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Trump has come under scrutiny for his handling of government documents, a matter now being investigated by Maloney, the chairwoman of the House Oversight Committee.
“I am deeply concerned that these records were not provided to NARA promptly at the end of the Trump administration and that they appear to have been removed from the White House in violation of the Presidential Records Act,” Maloney wrote in a letter to Ferriero earlier this month.
Trump’s record of mishandling documents includes more than just taking boxes of documents to his Mar-a-Lago estate: A 2018 Politico report revealed that he had a habit of tearing up presidential records that White House staff then attempted to tape back together. He’s also been scrutinized for using his personal phone for government business.
Maloney has said that Trump’s habit of tearing up government documents “could constitute additional serious violations” of federal law.
A book set to be released by a New York Times reporter in October also alleges that White House staff occasionally found paper clogging toilets, leading many to believe Trump had tried to flush the shredded docs.
Read it at New York Times
