Instead of returning the classified materials he’d taken to Mar-a-Lago from the White House, Donald Trump allegedly wanted to trade them for documents showing the FBI investigated his 2016 campaign ties to Russia, according to reporting from The New York Times. For more than a year, National Archives officials hounded the former president’s aides and attorneys to return the boxes. Trump insisted they contained nothing important, some just had dirty laundry. But after more pushing from his team, Trump pitched a deal: give the government back its files in exchange for proof that the FBI’s Russia investigation was a “hoax,” the Times reported. His aides knew the idea would be a “non-starter” and never acted on it. After one of Trump’s attorneys warned him he could face serious consequences if he did not return the classified documents, the former president, who kept insisting the “boxes were ‘mine,’” began going through them last December, the Times said. The news is the latest in the ongoing saga, which has sparked a Justice Department investigation into Trump's handling of the classified material. Federal investigators still believe he is withholding government documents, the Times reported earlier this week.
