The National Archives and Records Administration recovered boxes of White House records from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, according to a report.
The Washington Post reported the boxes contained documents and other items that the former president should have turned over to the agency, citing three people familiar with the visit.
The outlet noted the retrieval of the records raises concerns about Trump’s willingness to follow the Presidential Records Act, which requires documents and other written communications related to the president to be preserved.
Advisers to Trump deny “any nefarious intent” and said the boxes held mementos, gifts, letters from world leaders, and other correspondence with the former president, as the Post reported.
Among the items include correspondence with the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Un. The Post pointed out Trump previously called the correspondence with Kim Jong Un “love letters.”
Additionally, there was a letter by former President Barack Obama.
Personnel familiar with recent administrations told the Post the Trump administration “stands apart in the scale of the records retrieved from Mar-a-Lago.”
One person familiar with the transfer of records explained it was “out of the ordinary. … NARA has never had that kind of volume transfer after the fact like this.”
One former Trump White House official said they did not think Trump “did this out of malicious intent to avoid complying with the Presidential Records Act,” adding, “As long as he’s been in business, he’s been very transactional and it was probably his longtime practice and I don’t think his habits changed when he got to the White House.”
The agency recently handed over documents to the January 6 select committee. Three people familiar with the records said last week some of the records from the Trump White House were torn up and taped back together, as The Washington Post reported.
