The National Archives and Records Administration believe that former President Donald Trump took classified documents from the White House as he left office, according to The New York Times.
The discovery was made when Trump returned 15 boxes of materials to the Archives that he improperly brought to his Mar-a-Lago residence after his presidency. When officials discovered potential classified documents in the materials, they notified the Department of Justice. The DOJ said the Archive’s Inspector General should investigate the matter.
If the Inspector General’s office uncovers evidence of wrongdoing, they can recommend that the DOJ pursue criminal charges. The Time notes prosecuting Trump “would be extremely difficult and it would pit the Justice Department against Mr. Trump at a time when Attorney General Merrick B. Garland is trying to depoliticize the department.”
A separate report, stemming from a preview of journalist Maggie Haberman’s forthcoming book on Trump’s career, reveals that staff in the White House periodically discovered wads of paper clogging a toilet. The staff believed Trump had tried to flush documents down the pipes.
Trump denied the report in a statement, saying “Another fake story, that I flushed papers and documents down a White House toilet, is categorically untrue and simply made up by a reporter in order to get publicity for a mostly fictitious book.”
Axios, which received a preview of Haberman’s Confidence Man, previews additional details:
Haberman reports Trump has told people that since leaving office, he has remained in contact with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un — whose “love letters,” as Trump once called them, were among documents the National Archives retrieved from Mar-a-Lago.
The revelations that Trump may have mishandled classified information is particularly noteworthy because he routinely criticized his 2016 opponent, Hillary Clinton, for using a personal email address when she was Secretary of State to communicate about sensitive government business.
The FBI’s investigation of Clinton’s emails – and the ensuing media scrutiny – contributed to the demise of her presidential ambitions.
Despite that public reckoning, The Times reports that Trump aides were often dismayed by the way he and staffers handled classified documents:
…during Mr. Trump’s administration, top White House officials were deeply concerned about how little regard Mr. Trump showed for sensitive national security materials. John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff, tried to stop classified documents from being taken out of the Oval Office and brought up to the residence because he was concerned about what Mr. Trump may do with them and how that may jeopardize national security.
Similar to Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and daughter Ivanka used personal email accounts for work purposes. And even after being warned by aides, Mr. Trump repeatedly ripped up government documents that had to be taped back together to prevent him from being accused of destroying federal property.