WASHINGTON: The former president Donald Trump took classified information to his Florida home following his departure from his White House.
The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration wrote a letter sent to Congress on Friday regarding its 15 storage boxes of records found.
The Archives stated that it had notified the Department of Justice, which will take care of any inquiry.
“NARA has identified items marked as classified national security information within the boxes,” David Ferriero, the archivist of the United States, said in an email directed to Democratic U.S. Representative Carolyn Maloney, Who is the chair of the House of Representatives oversight committees.
Maloney’s panel studied how Trump handled documents from his Republican presidential candidate, who resigned from the presidency in January 2021.
“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,” Maloney declared in an email.
“The National Archives did not ‘find’ anything. Instead, they were given, upon request, presidential records in an ordinary and routine process to ensure the preservation of my legacy and per the Presidential Records Act,” Trump declared in a statement written by the president.
“If it were anyone else than “Trump,” there would be no story here.”
Ferriero’s letter further stated that some White House staff conducted official business through non-official electronic messages that were not duplicated or transferred to official electronic messages. The agency was working on getting some of the missing records.
The Washington Post reported last week that some documents taken to Trump’s home were classified, which may increase the pressure legal Trump or his associates could be subject to.
The Presidential Records Act requires the preservation of letters, memos, notes, emails, documents, faxes, and other written correspondence that pertain to the president’s official tasks.
In claiming an executive privilege claim, Trump filed a lawsuit but was unsuccessful in his attempt to prevent the release of documents of the White House, including to the House committee on select matters that were investigating an attack on the Capitol in January. 6th, 2021 assault at the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters.