The House Oversight Committee is intensifying its inquiry into former President Donald Trump’s handling of documents during his White House days.
Chairwoman Rep. Carolyn Maloney requested additional information from the National Archives and Records Administration about the classified material found in a trove of documents Trump held in Mar-a-Lago following his White House exit. She also requested any records of White House employees finding evidence of documents flushed down the toilet.
“In response to a request from the Committee, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) provided new details of what appears to be the largest-scale violations of the Presidential Records Act since its enactment,” Maloney said in a press release. “I am deeply concerned that former President Trump may have violated the law through his intentional efforts to remove and destroy records that belong to the American people.”
NATIONAL ARCHIVES FINDS RECORDS WITH CLASSIFIED INFORMATION AT TRUMP’S MAR-A-LAGO RESORT
Maloney’s Thursday letter to the NARA sought information about the level of classification of the documents kept at Trump’s resort and any findings from federal investigations into the situation. She also requested records about the Trump White House’s policies on record-keeping and any relevant communication NARA had with the former president about it.
Last Friday, David Ferriero, the archivist of the United States, sent a letter to Maloney confirming the agency notified the Justice Department about classified documents it recovered from Mar-a-Lago. In January, Trump turned over 15 boxes of documents the Presidential Records Act required to be turned over to NARA following his presidency. Maloney’s request came in response to media reports about Trump’s alleged mishandling of documents.
Ferriero said in his letter last week the NARA planned to complete its inventory of the Trump documents by Friday. Maloney requested the inventory by March 10.
Reports indicated staff periodically had to unclog papers found in pipes likely from Trump’s personal White House bathroom because he flushed documents. Trump vehemently denied the allegation in a statement decrying it as a “fake story.”
Ferriero identified missing records of social media posts from the Trump White House and internal communication that took place on messaging platforms, he said in his letter — actions that Maloney suggested violated the law.
Trump also reportedly had a paper-ripping habit that forced staff to tape documents back together, Politico reported in 2018. Ferriero confirmed knowledge of these reports in his letter and said many of the documents Trump tore up had not been properly reconstructed.
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While the Presidential Records Act has no clear teeth, laws governing the mishandling of classified information have stiff penalties.
Trump’s reported lack of proper document-keeping has potentially proven useful to him amid a House select committee’s investigation of the Jan. 6 riot. One source told the Washington Post the Jan. 6 Committee sought documents about attempts to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence not to certify the 2020 elections. The committee said it discovered the documents no longer existed and had been shredded.
