Trump has denied any wrongdoing. (FILE)
Washington:
Documents were ripped up, stuffed down the toilet or shipped to Florida – the list of former US leader Donald Trump accused of violating presidential documents preservation laws grew longer and more bizarre on Thursday.
Trump’s shredding of many previously accepted standards of presidential decor is part of his populist appeal to Republican supporters. But now, the National Archives, which is in charge of preserving presidential records, reportedly wants Trump to investigate the White House’s habit of tearing up papers while in office.
According to The Washington Post, the Archives has asked the Justice Department to open an investigation into Trump’s activities.
This comes after the government records office confirmed Monday that it had recovered 15 boxes of documents from Trump’s Florida estate, which he took with him when he left Washington following his re-election defeat.
Among the documents were official correspondence with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un – “love letters”, as Trump described at the time. Similar in the Florida archives is a letter that outgoing president Barack Obama left to Trump in the Oval Office.
Last week, the Archives confirmed reports that Trump tore up documents, some of which had been glued together.
Under the Presidential Records Act (PRA) of 1978, passed in the wake of the Watergate scandal, US Presidents are required to turn over all emails, correspondence and other business documents to the National Archives .
Trump denies any wrongdoing. In a statement Thursday, he described his dealings with the Archives as “conflict-free and on a very friendly basis.”
“The media characterizes my relationship with NARA (National Archives) as Fake News. It’s quite the opposite! It’s been an honor to work with NARA to help make it official. preserve the Trump Legacy.”
Go to the toilet
But on Thursday, a new turning point developed.
A new book about Trump’s time in office claims that the toilets in the White House will get stuck after efforts to flush office papers, Axios reported.
The forthcoming book “The Confident Man,” by New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman, says that “employees in the White House residence periodically discover pieces of printed paper clogging the toilet — and believe the president has flushed the pieces of paper,” according to an exclusive preview by Axios.
The book, based in part on Haberman’s post-presidential interviews with Trump, reports that Republicans have told people he remains in touch with Kim of North Korea.
Trump also denied the toilet story.
“Also, another fake story, that I flushed papers and documents down the White House toilet, is completely untrue and was simply fabricated by a reporter to bring attention to the public. them about an almost fictional book,” he wrote.
Haberman’s book will be published on October 4. The veteran Times journalist has pursued Trump for a decade and has long had unparalleled access among journalists to the oligarch’s inner circle. become a politician.
The controversy is gaining attention in the Democratic-controlled Congress, where a special committee investigating the January 6, 2020 attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters is struggling to get profile of the former president.
On Thursday, the House Oversight and Reform Committee in Congress announced it was opening its own investigation into the vagrant records.
“I am deeply concerned,” said the committee chair, Representative Carolyn Maloney. “I am also concerned by recent reports that while in office, President Trump has repeatedly attempted to destroy presidential records, which could constitute additional serious violations.”
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
