Photos of documents that former President Donald Trump flushed down a toilet at the White House have been released.
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman shared the photos with Axios and posted them to Twitter.
“Trump denied flushing documents as president, as I learned during reporting last year for CONFIDENCE MAN. A Trump White House source recently provided PHOTOS of paper with Trump’s handwriting in two different toilets,” Haberman tweeted.
She added, “On the left is a White House toilet, the word ‘qualified’ and a capital I visible. On the left, a toilet from a Trump trip overseas.”
On the left is a White House toilet, the word “qualified” and a capital I visible. On the left, a toilet from a Trump trip overseas https://t.co/4ys4ncToiY
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) August 8, 2022
In another tweet, Haberman noted that “under the presidential records act, documents generated by and sent to presidents are to be preserved by the office.”
She continued, “Trump’s habit of ripping paper that had to be taped back up was known; his habit of discarding them was not.”
Under the presidential records act, documents generated by and sent to presidents are to be preserved by the office. Trump’s habit of ripping paper that had to be taped back up was known; his habit of discarding them was not https://t.co/4ys4ncToiY
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) August 8, 2022
Trump spokesperson Taylor Budowich issued a statement to Axios responding to the report.
“You have to be pretty desperate to sell books if pictures of paper in a toilet bowl is part of your promotional plan,” Budowich said.
The statement continued, “We know … there’s enough people willing to fabricate stories like this in order to impress the media class — a media class who is willing to run with anything, as long as it anti-Trump.”
Earlier this year, Axios reported on excerpts from Haberman’s book detailing the incidents where papers were found clogging a toilet in the White House.
“Haberman reports Trump has told people that since leaving office, he has remained in contact with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un — whose ‘love letters,’ as Trump once called them, were among documents the National Archives retrieved from Mar-a-Lago,” Axios explained.
The report came around the same time that the National Archives asked the Department of Justice to look into the way Trump handled White House records.
Trump said in a statement he had participated in “collaborative and respectful” discussions with the Archives and had arranged for the “transport of boxes that contained Presidential Records in compliance with the Presidential Records Act.”
