National Archives had to retrieve Trump White House records from Mar-a-Lago

[demmiblue]

Source: WaPo

The recovery of multiple boxes from Trump’s Florida resort, including letters from Barack Obama and Kim Jong Un, underscores the previous administration’s cavalier handling of presidential records

President Donald Trump improperly removed multiple boxes from the White House that were retrieved by the National Archives and Records Administration last month from his Mar-a-Lago residence because they contained documents and other items that should have been turned over to the agency, according to three people familiar with the visit.

The recovery of the boxes from Trump’s Florida resort raises new concerns about his adherence to the Presidential Records Act, which requires the preservation of memos, letters, notes, emails, faxes and other written communications related to a president’s official duties.

Trump advisers deny any nefarious intent and said the boxes contained mementos, gifts, letters from world leaders and other correspondence. The items included correspondence with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which Trump once described as “love letters,” as well as a letter left for his successor by President Barack Obama, according to two people familiar with the contents.

Discussions between the Archives and the former president’s lawyers that began last year resulted in the transfer of the records in January, according to one person familiar with the conversations. Another person familiar with the materials said Trump advisers discussed what had to be returned in December. People familiar with the transfer, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to reveal internal details.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/07/trump-records-mar-a-lago/

[JohnSJ]

1. Recall when Sandy Berger took documents out, and not only was the media all over that for weeks, but

he also had to pay a fine for doing so.

It will be interesting what happens with the king of the republicans in regard to this

[gab13by13]

2. Is that a rhetorical question?

The documents have been gone over by now by Trump's lawyers, nothing of interest will be found, and even if it is, so what?

[Ford_Prefect]

3. You're ignoring the obvious question of why some of those documents were in

Mar-A-Lago in the first place. The ones which were not there for sentimental reasons.

Why some of those had not been destroyed is the larger question as I see it.

Perhaps you may recall a certain file cabinet full of important and official Trump organization documents and receipts which was recovered from a certain basement in New York?

[JohnSJ]

5. +++

[JohnSJ]

4. The fact that he took those documents, was it legal? It wasn't legal in the Berger case, and he

was charged and fined

They made a huge deal out of it, and we all know what they did to Hillary

[L. Coyote]

8. Sandy Berger was fined $50,000 and given two years of probation and 100 hours of community service

Link to tweet

[thesquanderer]

10. One difference: Those docs (as your post says) were classified.

Since the president has the authority to decide what is and is not classified (and Trump was still president when he removed the items), they are no longer "classified" if he doesn't want them to be... if, in fact, any of them wee classified docs in the first place, which they may not have been.

[nuxvomica]

6. The documents are important but I also want to know about the "gifts"

And whether they were from foreign entities and if they exceeded the $375 limit.

[chia]

7. "raises new concerns..." I'm so tired of weak of this mewling, limp, weak tea language.

[ificandream]

9. Just jail the bastard and get it over with.

[Bayard]

11. Aren't these things tracked, and recorded?

Is there any way some of them were, "lost", on the way to FL?

I am quite surprised the letter from Obama wasn't immediately shredded.

[twodogsbarking]

12. Did he hand in his keys to The White House?

Oh shit, he'll just break in anyway.

[Chainfire]

13. The important question is this; what would happen to a White House clerk who took historic

documents home to keep as mementos of their White House employment?

[IcyPeas]

14. But her emails

They accused Hillary of deleting emails. But they are the ones destroying documents.

Lock him up.

[Linda Ed]

15. Just like his dinner with the Chinese president and surround people

he had at Mar a Lago showing or sharing national security information...Those papers should never leave the white house to a presidents home or place of business!! Should be federally prosecuted IMO...