Trump Reportedly 'Never Stopped Ripping' Up White House Documents And Breaking The Law
Staffers grabbed piles of paper torn up by Trump to try to reconstruct documents that were legally required to be preserved, The Washington Post reports.
Donald Trump not only tore up records demanded by the House select committee probing the Jan. 6 insurrection, he also ripped up lots of other letters, memos, articles, briefings and schedules — in violation of the Presidential Records Act,
The Washington Post reported Saturday.
He kept it up throughout his presidency, despite being warned to preserve all the documents — as required by law — by the White House counsel, two chiefs of staff, and others, according to the Post.
“It is absolutely a violation of the act,” Courtney Chartier, president of the Society of American Archivists, told the Post. “There is no ignorance of these laws. There are White House manuals about the maintenance of these records.”
The law demands that the White House preserve all written communication related to a president’s official duties — including everything from memos to emails — and turn it all over to the National Archives and Records Administration.
The practice was “relentless,” “widespread and indiscriminate,” the Post reported further on Saturday, citing interviews with 11 Trump White House staffers, associates and others. One source said staff in the National Archives considered it “unprecedented.”
“He didn’t want a record of anything,” a former senior Trump official told the Post. “He never stopped ripping things up. Do you really think Trump is going to care about the Records Act? Come on.”
Hundreds of documents were ripped up, sources told the Post. No one knows how many documents were permanently lost or destroyed.
Check out the full Washington Post article...
Staffers grabbed piles of paper torn up by Trump to try to reconstruct documents that were legally required to be preserved, The Washington Post reports.
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Trump obviously had zero respect for the Presidential Records Act and retaining White House documents. Will he escape punishment for this? What do you think?