Trump's archives scandal gets worse: More than a dozen boxes retrieved -- and there are more missing
07 February 2022
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Donald Trump absconded with countless documents, some possibly classified, and other items of worth when he left the White House hours before Joe Biden was sworn in as president. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), which by law is tasked with maintaining presidential records, has just revealed the magnitude of the misappropriated items: 15 boxes – and counting.
"In mid-January 2022, NARA arranged for the transport from the Trump Mar-a-Lago property in Florida to the National Archives of 15 boxes that contained Presidential records, following discussions with President Trump's representatives in 2021," the National Archives has just told The Washington Post in a statement Monday afternoon. The Post broke the story Monday morning.
That's not all. There are still missing items and Trump apparently does not know where they are.
"Former President Trump's representatives have informed NARA that they are continuing to search for additional Presidential records that belong to the National Archives."
"As required by the Presidential Records Act (PRA), these records should have been transferred to NARA from the White House at the end of the Trump Administration in January 2021."
"The Presidential Records Act mandates that all Presidential records must be properly preserved by each Administration so that a complete set of Presidential records is transferred to the National Archives at the end of the Administration," said Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero. 'NARA pursues the return of records whenever we learn that records have been improperly removed or have not been appropriately transferred to official accounts.'"
All this is on top of the news that broke over the weekend that the White House had a "burn bag" for documents that Trump unlawfully but regularly tore up.