(PatrioticPost.com)- The National Archives and Records Administration, which confirmed it collected several boxes of records from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, has asked the Justice Department to investigate Trump over his mishandling of White House records.
According to a report in the Washington Post, last month the National Archives retrieved fifteen boxes of documents and records from Mar-a-Lago that should have been turned over to the agency when Trump left the White House a year earlier.
The Presidential Records Act requires that everything from memos, letters, notes, emails, faxes, and other communications related to a president’s official duties be preserved with the National Archives and Records Administration.
Trump’s people denied there was any “nefarious intent” when they took fifteen boxes of documents and records. Instead, they said the boxes contained mementos, gifts, and letters from world leaders, including Trump’s correspondence with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and the letter left for President Trump by outgoing President Barack Obama.
On Thursday ABC News reported that a source confirmed that the National Archives had requested the Justice Department get involved and discussions are in the very early stages. However, the source told ABC News it was not clear if the Justice Department will open a formal investigation into the matter.
Legal experts told ABC News earlier this week that it is unlikely the DOJ would pursue criminal charges over a former president violating the Presidential Records Act.
That makes sense. It isn’t as if the records were destroyed. What’s more, the Trump people cooperated in returning the boxes and the records are now in the hands of the National Archives. With that level of cooperation, pursuing criminal charges at this point would reek of political retribution.
A spokesperson for Trump told ABC news the National Archives arranged for the return of the boxes containing presidential records after “collaborative and respectful discussions.”
The spokesperson’s statement also included a statement from Trump who described the media’s characterization of his relations with the National Archives as “fake news.”
In a separate statement on Thursday, Trump also denied the claims from New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman’s upcoming anti-Trump book that he may have been flushing documents down the toilet. Trump called Haberman’s claim a “fake story,” and accused her of making it up to gain publicity for her “mostly fictitious book.”
