By Aaron Miller-
The US National Archives confirmed on Friday that officials found classified materials in boxes of documents Donald Trump improperly removed from the White House – and that they had alerted the Department of Justice (DoJ).
Five boxes of White House records were revealed to be stored at former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence contained items marked as classified national security information. It prompted officials to consult with the DoJ over whether Trump’s actions were potentially unlawful.
AD: Capeesh Restaurant
House politicians had opened an investigation and the National Archives and reportedly asked the Justice Department to look into the matter.
The finding is expected to escalate an investigation by the House oversight committee into whether Trump violated the Presidential Records Act of 1978 by removing and destroying White House documents. It is a crime to conceal or intentionally destroy government records.
Investigators will be assessing whether Mr Trump’s actions, both during his presidency and after, violated the Presidential Records Act, which was enacted in 1978 after former president Richard Nixon wanted to destroy documents related to the Watergate scandal
AD: Oysterian Sea Food Restaurant And Bar
Former U.S President, Donald Trump, took classified information to his Florida home after leaving the White House, the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration said in a letter to Congress on Friday about the 15 boxes of documents it recently recovered.
The Archives said it had informed the Department of Justice, which would handle any investigation.
“NARA has identified items marked as classified national security information within the boxes,” David Ferriero, the archivist of the United States, said in a letter to Democratic U.S. Representative Carolyn Maloney, chair of the House of Representatives oversight committee.
Maloney’s committee has been looking into Trump’s handling of records by the Republican president, who left office in January 2021.
“These new revelations deepen my concern about former President Trump’s flagrant disregard for federal records laws and the potential impact on our historical record,” Maloney said in a statement.
Investigators will be looking to see if Mr Trump’s actions, both during his presidency and after, violated the Presidential Records Act, which was enacted in 1978 after former president Richard Nixon wanted to destroy documents related to the Watergate scandal.
Another statute which is punishable by up to three years in prison, makes it a crime to conceal or intentionally destroy government records.
Boxes of materials recently recovered from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence included classified national security documents, the National Archives and Record Administration has confirmed.
The agency ‘has identified items marked as classified national security information within the boxes,’ national archivist David Ferriero wrote in a letter Friday to Rep Carolyn Maloney, chairwoman of the House Oversight Committee that has been scrutinizing how Trump handled the documents.
In a letter to the committee, David Ferriero, of the National Archives and Records Administration (Nara), said it had “identified items marked as classified national security information in the boxes”.
“Because Nara identified classified information in the boxes,” he wrote, “Nara staff has been in communication with the Department of Justice.”
The agency also confirmed that deleted tweets from Trump’s personal account and accounts belonging to top White House officials including former press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and senior adviser Peter Navaro have probably been lost forever.
Ferriero said: “Some White House staff conducted official business using non-official electronic messaging accounts that were not copied or forwarded into their official electronic messaging accounts.”
The news of potential violations of the Presidential Records Act, which mandates the preservation of White House documents, came after a series of reports that Trump openly flouted the statute.
In late January, after protracted negotiations with Trump lawyers, the Archives secured the return of 15 boxes of documents Trump took from the White House to Mar-a-Lago, his post-presidency home in Florida.
The boxes included White House documents considered presidential records, as well as items including “love letters” from Kim Jong-un of North Korea, a letter left for Trump by his predecessor as president, Barack Obama, and a model of Air Force One with red-white-and-blue livery Trump chose.
But some materials in the 15 boxes were marked as classified, the Archives said. That prompted officials to consult with the DoJ over whether Trump’s actions were potentially unlawful.
The chair of the House oversight committee, Carolyn Maloney, noted last week in opening her investigation that “removing or concealing government records is a criminal offense”. Trump must be held accountable, the New York Democrat said.
The DoJ has declined to comment on whether it will open a criminal investigation. Experts have said prosecuting violations of the Presidential Records Act is tricky, since it lacks clear enforcement guidelines.
The Archives also said in its letter on Friday staff were in the process of inventorying the 15 boxes to determine if other materials from the Trump White House remain missing, work they expected to complete next Friday.
The National Archives and Records Administration said the matter has been referred to the Justice Department.
In a response to a letter sent on February 9 to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, the National Archives confirmed reports that Mr Trump took government records with him to Florida after he left office in January 2021.
House politicians had opened an investigation and the National Archives has reportedly asked the Justice Department to look into the matter.
The Justice Department and the FBI have not yet said what, if anything, they will do.
The letter from the archivists also stated that certain social media records were not captured and preserved by the Trump administration.
And that the agency learned White House staff frequently conducted official business using unofficial messaging accounts and personal phones.
Those staff did not copy or forward their official messaging counts, as required by the Presidential Records Act. The letter also goes on to reveal that after Mr Trump left the White House, the National Archives learned additional paper records that had been torn up by the former president had been transferred to the agency.
“Although White House staff during the Trump Administration recovered and taped together some of the torn-up records, a number of other torn-up records that were transferred had not been reconstructed by the White House,” the letter continued.
Carolyn Maloney, the chair of the House Oversight Committee, said in a statement last week announcing the investigation that Mr Trump was required under the law to turn over the documents to the National Archives before leaving office, and that lawmakers are seeking information about the contents of the boxes recovered from Mar-a-Lago.
AD: Heritage And Restaurant Lounge Bar