Did former President Donald Trump commit a crime when he ripped up White House records and absconded with 15 boxes of materials related to his time in office?
That’s the question the National Archives has referred to the Department of Justice, according to The Washington Post.
The outlet reports:
Trump’s years-long defiance of the Presidential Records Act, which requires the preservation of memos, letters, notes, emails, faxes and other written communications related to a president’s official duties, has long raised concerns among historians and legal observers. His penchant for ripping up official documents was first reported by Politico in 2018, but it has drawn new scrutiny in recent weeks because of the House select committee’s investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The Washington Post reported late last month that some of the White House records the Archives turned over to the committee appeared to have been torn apart and then taped back together. The Post later found — and the Archives confirmed — that officials had recovered 15 boxes of presidential records from Mar-a-Lago.
It’s unclear if the DOJ will pursue an investigation, adds The Post. Legals experts interviewed by the newspaper explained that it’s challenging to prosecute a violation of the Presidential Records Act because investigators must prove the law was intentionally violated.
Trump said in a statement on Wednesday that the media has falsely characterized the document imbroglio. He said he has worked with the Archives in a “collaborative and respectful” way and voluntarily shipped the missing documents back to the federal government.
“Much of this material will someday be displayed in the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library for the public to view my Administration’s incredible accomplishments for the American People,” he said.
The documents in question represent a wide range of historic moments, including letters from former President Barack Obama and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
The Post reports:
The Archives also retrieved a doctored map of Hurricane Dorian that had been altered with a black Sharpie by Trump in a failed attempt to show he hadn’t been wrong about the storm’s path, according to a person familiar with the contents of the boxes. The Archives in a statement earlier this week said that Trump representatives are “continuing to search” for additional records.
There’s also the possibility that Trump left the White House with classified materials, a breach of protocol that could endanger national security.
The Post adds that documents aren’t the only materials that were potentially mishandled by the Trump administration:
“There was quite a bit of concern about the amount of mixing of personal effects with gifts that had been received during his time in office, which I’m sure in a traditional White House would have immediately been processed and given to the Archives,” one former staffer said. “But in the Trump White House, it was scattered throughout the West Wing, displayed behind glass, in the private dining room, and in the private residence on the second floor.”
The concern now is that many of those gifts and other government documents improperly made their way to Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla. This former staffer said, for instance, that after leaving the White House Trump displayed mini replica of one of the black border wall slats — with an engraved plaque on top — on his desk in his private office at Mar-a-Lago. Previously, as president, Trump had kept the replica on the credenza in the private dining room just off the Oval Office, next to some challenge coins he had been given.
