Former President Donald Trump took troves of documents containing classified information with him when he left the White House. The US National Archives and Records Administration
informed that same in a letter to Congress on Friday in reference to 15 boxes of documents recovered from Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.
The boxes of documents were recovered earlier this month by the National Archives. According to a letter posted on the National Archives and Records Administration's (NARA) website on Friday, the recovered documents contained 'items marked as classified national security information.'
According to The Washington Post, the trove of documents in question also contained 'top secret' material, documents what Trump previously described as 'love letters' from North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and a letter former President Barack Obama left for Trump before he left the White House.
It is important to note that the Presidential Records Act requires the White House to transfer all documents related to a president's official duties to the National Archives.
'Official Business using Non-Official Electronic Messaging Account'
The letter posted on NARA's website also noted how they learned that some White House staff conducted 'official business using non-official electronic messaging accounts.' Moreover, the records of the same were 'not copied or forwarded into their official electronic messaging accounts, as required by section 2209 of the PRA.'
Those records, instead, were 'outright destroyed' and sometimes taped back together, NARA noted. "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 said.
Investigation
The NARA noted that the Department of Justice was informed of the matter, which would handle any investigation. A rep for Trump was not immediately available for comment.
Democratic US Representative Carolyn Maloney said in a statement that the new revelations show 'Trump's flagrant disregard for federal records laws and the potential impact on our historical record.'
Maloney is the chair of the House of Representatives oversight committee, which is looking into Trump's handling of records after he left office in January 2021.
