Former President Trump is disputing media reports that claim the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has asked the Department of Justice to investigate his handling of White House records since leaving office. According to Trump, the potentially explosive story is “fake news.”
The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that there are now “internal discussions among federal prosecutors about potentially investigating whether Trump committed a crime in not properly turning over the records.”
The Post reported earlier this week that Archives officials recovered 15 boxes of documents from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate last month that the former president was legally required to turn over upon leaving office.
“The media’s characterization of my relationship with NARA is Fake News,” Trump said in a press release Thursday. “It was exactly the opposite! It was a great honor to work with NARA to help formally preserve the Trump Legacy.”
Trump continued:
Following collaborative and respectful discussions, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) openly and willingly arranged with President Trump for the transport of boxes that contained letters, records, newspapers, magazines, and various articles. Some of this information 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.
The former president said the papers were handed over “easily and without conflict and on a very friendly basis,” adding that he considered the matter to be “routine” and “no big deal.”
In actuality, I have been told I was under no obligation to give this material based on various legal rulings that have been made over the years. Crooked Hillary Clinton, as an example, deleted and acid-washed 32,000 emails and never gave that to the government. Then, they took large amounts of furniture out of the White House. And Bill Clinton kept numerous audio recordings that the archives wanted, but were unsuccessful at getting after going to court. We won’t even mention what is going on with the White House in the current, or various past administrations.
The corporate media have reported over the years that Trump had a habit of destroying documents that were supposed to be preserved.
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman claims in her new book on Donald Trump that an “engineer” (not plumber) constantly found wads of wet paper in the toilet.
“Staff in WH residence would periodically find the toilet clogged. The engineer would have to come and fix it. What the engineer would find would be wads of clumped up wet, printed paper,” she said on CNN, Thursday.
JUST NOW: "Staff in WH residence would periodically find the toilet clogged. The engineer would have to come and fix it. What the engineer would find would be wads of clumped up wet, printed paper." @maggieNYT on concerns of Trump flushing documents.pic.twitter.com/dertOPEXYm
— John Berman (@JohnBerman) February 10, 2022
Trump disputed this story too.
“Also, 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,” Trump stated. “The Democrats are just using this and the Unselect Committee of political hacks as a camouflage for how horribly our Country is doing under the Biden Administration.”
Trump concluded: “In the United States there has unfortunately become two legal standards, one for Republicans and one for Democrats. It should not be that way!”
via amgreatness