Classified documents among those Trump removed from White House, Archives confirms
Classified national security documents were in fact among those former President Donald Trump brought with him upon leaving office, the government's chief archivist said Friday, per Bloomberg.
In a letter to the chair of the House Oversight Committee, Archivist David Ferriero said the National Archives "has identified items marked as classified national security information within the boxes" recently recovered from Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort.
In January, the Archives got a hold of multiple boxes containing documents and records Trump had "improperly removed" from Pennsylvania Ave and brought with him to his Florida resort. Earlier this month, the government agency expressed concern that classified information appeared to be among the recovered boxes, in what would be a pretty obvious violation of the Presidential Records Act.
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.
Ferriero's letter also said the Archives "has identified certain social media records that were not captured and preserved by the Trump Administration," and that it found "some White House staff conducted official business using non-official electronic messaging accounts that were not copied or forwarded into their official electronic messaging accounts." Such disclosures are required under current presidential record law, Ferriero said.
Because classified information was, in fact, found among Trump's boxes, the Archives staff has been in touch with the Department of Justice, reports The New York Times.
"These new revelations deepen my concern about former President Trump's flagrant disregard for federal records laws and the potential impact on our historical record," House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) said Friday. "I am committed to uncovering the full depth of Presidential Records Act violations by former President Trump and his top advisors, and using these findings to advance critical reforms and prevent future abuses."
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.
-
West Africa’s ‘coup cascade’The Explainer Guinea-Bissau takeover is the latest in the Sahel region, which has quietly become global epicentre of terrorism
-
Daddy Pig: an unlikely flashpoint in the gender warsTalking Point David Gandy calls out Peppa Pig’s dad as an example of how TV portrays men as ‘useless’ fools
-
Codeword: December 3, 2025The daily codeword puzzle from The Week
-
‘It’s critical that Congress get involved’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Canada joins EU’s $170B SAFE defense fundspeed read This makes it the first non-European Union country in the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) initiative
-
Appeals court disqualifies US Attorney Alina HabbaSpeed Read The former personal attorney to President Donald Trump has been unlawfully serving as US attorney for New Jersey, the ruling says
-
White House says admiral ordered potential war crimeSpeed Read The Trump administration claims Navy Vice Adm. Frank ‘Mitch’ Bradley ordered a follow-up strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat, not Pete Hegseth
-
The military: When is an order illegal?Feature Trump is making the military’s ‘most senior leaders complicit in his unlawful acts’
-
Ukraine and Rubio rewrite Russia’s peace planFeature The only explanation for this confusing series of events is that ‘rival factions’ within the White House fought over the peace plan ‘and made a mess of it’
-
The powerful names in the Epstein emailsIn Depth People from a former Harvard president to a noted linguist were mentioned
-
Honduras votes amid Trump push, pardon vowspeed read President Trump said he will pardon former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, who is serving 45 years for drug trafficking
