The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) asked the Justice Department to look into former President Donald Trump's handling of classified information after discovering what it believes to classified documents among the 15 boxes of records it retrieved from Mar-a-Lago last month, The New York Times and The Washington Post reported Wednesday evening. The Justice Department told the National Archives to have its inspector general examine the matter, the Times adds.
The inspector general would be required to alert the Justice Department if any classified material was discovered in the records and mementos Trump took home from the White House, in pretty clear violation of the Presidential Records Act, the Times reports.
Prosecuting Trump for mishandling classified information would be politically and perhaps legally difficult. But if Trump did take classified documents back to his club in an insecure cardboard box, that's "much more serious" than violating the Presidential Records Act, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) told CNN Wednesday night, and "the Justice Department, in my view, will have to investigate,"
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.
"It would be, I think, intolerable for the department to have investigated Hillary Clinton over handling of classified emails and ignore allegations that Donald Trump may have brought classified documents" to Mar-a-Lago, Schiff argued. He called Trump's alleged actions actions "jaw-dropping, heart-stopping, grab-you-by-the-throat hypocrisy" after years of calling for Clinton to be locked up.
If you were wondering whether Clinton is following this story, the answer is yes.
Along with taking boxes of presidential records to Mar-a-Lago, Trump also had a well-documented habit of ripping up papers, despite warnings about preserving records from lawyers and two chiefs of staff. His aides picked up some of the ripped documents, but others are believed to have been destroyed. Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, both senior Trump White House advisers, used personal email and texting apps for official business.
Among the challenges that prosecutors would face bringing charges against Trump, when he was president, he had the power to declassify any information. If he did not declassify documents in his possession before that power expired with his presidency, prosecutors would still have to prove he intentionally mishandled the classified documents he took or was grossly negligent.
In a statement Wednesday, Trump called "the media's characterization" of his relationship with the National Archives "Fake News," adding, "It was a great honor to work with NARA to help formally preserve the Trump Legacy."
-
Fannie Flagg’s 6 favorite books that sparked her imaginationFeature The author recommends works by Johanna Spyri, John Steinbeck, and more
-
Google: A monopoly past its prime?Feature Google’s antitrust case ends with a slap on the wrist as courts struggle to keep up with the tech industry’s rapid changes
-
Patrick Hemingway: The Hemingway son who tended to his father’s legacyFeature He was comfortable in the shadow of his famous father, Ernest Hemingway
-
Supreme Court: Will it allow Trump’s tariffs?Feature Justices fast-track Trump’s appeal to see if his sweeping tariffs are unconstitutional
-
Venezuela: Was Trump’s air strike legal?Feature A Trump-ordered airstrike targeted a speedboat off the coast of Venezuela, killing all 11 passengers on board
-
3 killed in Trump’s second Venezuelan boat strikeSpeed Read Legal experts said Trump had no authority to order extrajudicial executions of noncombatants
-
Is Kash Patel’s fate sealed after Kirk shooting missteps?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION The FBI’s bungled response in the immediate aftermath of the Charlie Kirk shooting has director Kash Patel in the hot seat
-
Russian drone tests Romania as Trump spinsSpeed Read Trump is ‘resisting congressional plans to impose newer and tougher penalties on Russia’s energy sector’
-
Trump renews push to fire Cook before Fed meetingSpeed Read The push to remove Cook has ‘quickly become the defining battle in Trump’s effort to take control of the Fed’
-
Will Donald Trump’s second state visit be a diplomatic disaster?Today's Big Question Charlie Kirk shooting, Saturday’s far-right rally and continued Jeffrey Epstein fallout ramps-up risks of already fraught trip
-
Air strikes in the Caribbean: Trump’s murky narco-warTalking Point Drug cartels ‘don’t follow Marquess of Queensberry Rules’, but US military air strikes on speedboats rely on strained interpretation of ‘invasion’
