Topline
The National Archives and Records Administration found “classified national security information” among the 15 boxes of White House records that had been stored at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, the agency confirmed Friday, leading the National Archives to contact the Department of Justice and intensifying concerns that Trump mishandled official documents after leaving office.
The Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida as seen on March 1, 2021.
Key Facts
U.S. Archivist David Ferriero announced the discovery of classified documents in a letter to House Oversight Committee Chair Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), and said the National Archives “has been in communication with” the DOJ, confirming reporting earlier this month by the New York Times and the Washington Post.
Some of the records transferred to the National Archives after Trump left office included paper documents that Trump had torn up, some of which had been taped back together, Ferriero said, confirming a January report by the Post detailing Trump’s habit of ripping up papers.
Ferriero said the National Archives has asked Trump’s representatives to keep searching for additional presidential records that haven’t been turned over, in an effort to prevent the records from being lost or destroyed.
The agency said it is still trying to track down certain social media records that Ferriero says the Trump Administration neglected to capture and preserve.
The National Archives is also working to obtain records belonging to White House staff who conducted business on non-official electronic messaging accounts and didn’t forward the communications to their official accounts, in defiance of the Presidential Records Act.
A Trump spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
What To Watch For
The National Archives expects to finish inventorying the boxes’ contents by February 25, Ferriero said in his letter.
Key Background
In January, 15 boxes of White House records were turned over to the National Archives from Mar-a-Lago, where they had been stored in spite of the Presidential Records Act’s requirement that they be handed over to the government when Trump left office. The boxes reportedly included a letter former President Barack Obama left for Mr. Trump when Trump was first sworn in and what Trump reportedly described as “love letters” between him and North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un, as well as other documents, gifts and mementoes. Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists Project on Government Secrecy, told the New York Times Trump might have violated the Presidential Records Act by ripping up documents. However, given that the U.S. Archivist has “ultimate responsibility” for preserving presidential records and that the National Archives do not have their own police force or an extensive investigative capacity, their ability to enforce the Presidential Records Act may be limited, Aftergood said. On the other hand, Trump could be liable for some form of obstruction of justice if he ripped up documents to impede an investigation, former Justice Department lawyer David H. Laufman told the Times.
Tangent
The National Archives is also responsible for turning over troves of Trump Administration documents to a House committee investigating the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot. The committee has so far struggled to reconstruct Trump’s activities on the day of the riot due in part to sparse records of his communications, the Times reported. The National Archives released 800 pages of Trump Administration records to the committee, including call and visitor logs, emails, draft speeches and handwritten notes, after the Supreme Court on January 19 rejected Trump’s lawsuit to block the release.
Further Reading
“National Archives Took 15 Boxes Of White House Records From Mar-A-Lago—Which Should Have Never Been There” (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacharysmith/2022/02/18/national-archives-says-it-found-classified-national-security-information-in-boxes-at-mar-a-lago/