National Archives had to retrieve boxes of official White House records from Trump’s Florida home

The National Archives was forced to retrieve boxes of official White House records from former President Donald Trump‘s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida – including letters from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un – that had been improperly removed by the ex commander-in-chief.

The documents and gifts, which should have been turned over to The National Archives and Records Administration at the end of Trump’s presidency, were retrieved by the agency last month, three people familiar with the visit told the Washington Post.  

Trump and his team took the documents because they had reportedly not followed the rules. 

Under the Presidential Records Act, memos, notes, letters, emails, faxes and other written correspondence related to the president’s official duties must be handed to the National Archives for preservation.

And now, the recovery of the boxes of official White House records from Trump’s Florida estate raises questions about his adherence to the Act. 

The boxes of official White House documents found in Trump’s house contained letters from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Barack Obama, two sources familiar with the contents of the boxes told the newspaper. 

Trump’s advisers have denied any heinous intent, adding that the boxes contained letters from world leaders as well as gifts and mementos.

Trump lost his bid last month to block the release of presidential documents from the National Archives to a House Committee, which resulted in the transfer of the records in January, according to a person familiar with the handover who requested anonymity to discuss it. 

The House panel investigating the January 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection received the documents in January. 

The Supreme Court had ruled that the archives could turn over the documents, which include presidential diaries, visitor logs, speech drafts and handwritten notes dealing with Jan. 6 from the files of former chief of staff Mark Meadows.  

Trump’s lawyers had hoped to prolong the court fight and keep the documents on hold.

The documents, which the panel first requested in August, will add to the tens of thousands the committee has already gathered as it investigates the attack by a violent mob of Trump’s supporters and what the former president and his aides were doing while it unfolded.  

‘The only way that a president can really be held accountable long term is to preserve a record about who said what, who did what, what policies were encouraged or adopted, and that is such an important part of the long-term scope of accountability — beyond just elections and campaigns,’ presidential historian Lindsay Chervinsky told the Washington Post.

Chervinksy added that it would also affect U.S. national security if records and documents are not disclosed. ‘That could pose a real concern if the next administration is flying blind without that information,’ she said. 

Representative Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.), a member of the January 6 House panel, said that the overall records situation reflected the ‘unconventional nature of how this White House operated’. She added that she did not have knowledge of the transfer of documents from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.      

‘That they didn’t follow rules is not a shock,’ Murphy said. ‘As for how this development relates to the committee’s work, we have different sources and methods for obtaining documents and information that we are seeking.’

While recent administrations have in some way violated the Presidential Records Act, sources told the newspaper that Trump’s administration is different due to the scale of the records retrieved from Mar-a-Lago.

One person said it is ‘out of the ordinary. The National Archives and Records Administration has never had that kind of volume transfer after the fact like this.’

A lawyer who worked in the White House Counsel’s Office under President Obama questioned why it took a year for the boxes to get to the archives.

‘Things that are national security sensitive or very clearly government documents should have been a part of a first sweep – so the fact that it’s been this long doesn’t reflect well on Trump,’ the lawyer said. ‘Why has it taken a year for these boxes to get there? And are there more boxes?’ 

Some of the papers handed over to the select committee were taped together by National Archives staff because they had been ripped up, the agency revealed in a statement.

‘Some of the Trump presidential records received by the National Archives and Records Administration included paper records that had been torn up by former President Trump,’ the Archives told CNN without explaining how it was known that Trump was the individual who defaced the records.

‘These were turned over to the National Archives at the end of the Trump Administration, along with a number of torn-up records that had not been reconstructed by the White House,’ the Archives said. 

‘The Presidential Records Act requires that all records created by presidents be turned over to the National Archives at the end of their administrations.’ 

Charles Tiefer, former counsel to the House of Representatives, said if there is ‘willful and unlawful intent’ to violate the Act by people concealing or destroying public records, they would face up to three years in prison.    

‘You can’t prosecute for just tearing up papers,’ he said. ‘You would have to show him being highly selective and have evidence that he wanted to behave unlawfully.’

One former Trump aide said they did not think Trump had acted with criminal intent. 

They told the newspaper: ‘I don’t think he did this out of malicious intent to avoid complying with the Presidential Records Act.

‘As long as he’s been in business, he’s been very transactional and it was probably his longtime practice and I don’t think his habits changed when he got to the White House.’