Letters from Kim Jong Un, Obama reportedly among documents Trump improperly removed from White House
The National Archives and Records Administration last month got a hold of multiple boxes containing documents and records from the Trump White House, after former President Donald Trump "improperly removed" the boxes and brought them to his Mar-a-Lago residence, The Washington Post reports. The boxes should have been handed over to the National Archives.
Though advisers deny bad intent, the Post reports, the reclamation of the boxes "raises new concerns about [Trump's] 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."
The boxes contained contained "mementos, gifts, letters from world leaders, and other correspondence," the Post says. Among the contents were communications with North Korea's Kim Jong Un — which Trump once called "love letters" — as well as a letter left for him by former President Barack Obama.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"The only way that a president can really be held accountable long term is to preserve a record about who said what, who did what, what policies were encouraged or adopted," presidential historian Lindsay Chervinsky told the Post, "and that is such an important part of the long-term scope of accountability — beyond just elections and campaigns."
All recent administrations have violated the Presidential Records Act from time to time, and the National Archives has also had to previously retrieve documents from other White Houses after a president has left office. That said, Trump is still an anomaly "in the scale of the records retrieved from Mar-a-Lago," the Post writes.
Said one person close to the matter: "NARA has never had that kind of volume transfer after the fact like this."
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.
-
Is pop music now too reliant on gossip?
Talking Point Taylor Swift's new album has prompted a flurry of speculation over who she is referring to in her songs
By Richard Windsor, The Week UK Published
-
Nuclear near-misses
The Explainer From technical glitches to fateful split-second decisions, the world has come to the brink of nuclear war more times than you might think
By Rebecca Messina, The Week UK Published
-
What is cloud seeding and did it cause Dubai's severe rainfall?
The Explainer The future is flooded
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
'Voters know Biden and Trump all too well'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Who will win the 2024 presidential election?
In Depth Election year is here. Who are pollsters and experts predicting to win the White House?
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
National Enquirer helped Trump in 2016, ex-boss says
Speed Read David Pecker says the tabloid published fabricated content to hurt Trump's rivals
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Sitting in judgment on Trump
Opinion Who'd want to be on this jury?
By Susan Caskie Published
-
Ukraine cheers House approval of military aid
Speed Read Following a lengthy struggle, the House has approved $95 billion in aid for Ukraine and Israel
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Poland, Germany nab alleged anti-Ukraine spies
Speed Read A man was arrested over a supposed Russian plot to kill Ukrainian President Zelenskyy
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Israel hits Iran with retaliatory airstrike
Speed Read The attack comes after Iran's drone and missile barrage last weekend
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Peter Murrell: Sturgeon's husband charged over SNP 'embezzlement' claims
Speed Read SNP expresses 'shock' as former chief executive rearrested in long-running investigation into claims of mishandled campaign funds
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published