Former President Donald Trump insists that he did not flush documents down a toilet in the White House residence.
In a lengthy statement on Thursday morning, Trump sought to dispute stories about his “relationship” with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) amid reports that it asked the Justice Department to examine his handling of White House records.
He also turned his attention to a portion of reporter Maggie Haberman’s, of The New York Times, forthcoming book “Confidence Man” that claimed toilets in the White House residence were occasionally clogged by printed paper.
“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 said.
He added, “The Democrats are just using this and the Unselect Committee of political hacks as a camoflauge [sic] for how horribly our Country is doing under the Biden Administration.”
Read the statement below:
NEW!
— Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) February 10, 2022
President Donald J. Trump:
"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… pic.twitter.com/4r1wnufbWI
According to Axios, Haberman’s book says that White House staff “periodically discovered wads of printed paper clogging a toilet — and believed the president had flushed pieces of paper.”
The new allegation comes after the National Archives asked the Justice Department to investigate Trump’s handling of documents after it was revealed that 15 boxes of documents were recovered at Mar-a-Lago that should have been turned over to the government.
The Washington Post notes, “Archives officials suspected Trump had possibly violated laws concerning the handling of government documents — including those that might be considered classified — and reached out to the Justice Department, the people familiar with the matter said.”
However, in his statement, Trump said that the “papers were given easily and without conflict and on a very friendly basis.”
“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,” he added.
