The House Oversight and Reform Committee is broadening its investigation into Donald Trump flushing top-secret documents down the toilet. He apparently kept the White House plumber quite busy. Trump had an obsession for secrecy, especially when it came to any paper trail, and now it will cost him.
He tore documents into confetti-sized pieces and destroyed the translator’s papers from a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. National Archivists had to go down to his Mar-a-Lago home where they retrieved 15 boxes including classified information.
The Oversight Committee just announced that it wants to obtain more information from the National Archives and Records Administration. It seems there is more information regarding those classified documents. The committee members also want to look into all the documents the ex-POTUS apparently tore up while still in the White House. Plus, the ex-president notoriously borrowed others’ cell phones or used burner phones to make calls.
Committee Chair Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) indicated that she was “deeply concerned” the ex-president could have committed a very serious crime. She sent National Archivist David Ferriero a letter where she wanted a “detailed” inventory for all those boxes Trump squirreled away at his Florida home. She also wanted “all presidential records” related to the documents the ex-president had “torn up, destroyed, mutilated, or attempted to tear up, destroy, or mutilate.”
Representative Maloney’s letter read according to ABC News:
‘I am deeply concerned that former President Trump may have violated the law through his intentional efforts to remove and destroy records that belong to the American people. This Committee plans to get to the bottom of what happened and assess whether further action is needed to prevent the destruction of additional presidential records and recover those records that are still missing.’
The National Archives had earlier told Maloney that Trump had removed “classified” materials. In addition, it had properly referred the information to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
At this time, the DOJ has not announced its decision about opening an investigation. Attorney General (AG) Merrick Garland did say the DOJ would “look at the facts and the law” related to the documents.
In addition, Maloney asked for any other documents the National Archives had related to “White House employees or contractors.”
The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman broke the news about Trump flushing documents down the toilet and clogging up the system. At the time, White House contractors and employees were:
‘[F]inding paper in a toilet in the White House.’
Of course the ex-president refused to admit that he had done any such thing. Trump also claimed there was no problem with the materials he had lifted and taken to Florida.
Trump has denied that he destroyed any documents, and has further denied any misconduct regarding the documents that were retrieved from Mar-a-Lago by the National Archives.
Trump said in a statement to ABC News:
‘The media’s characterization of my relationship with NARA is Fake News. It was exactly the opposite!” It was a great honor to work with NARA to help formally preserve the Trump Legacy.’
The committee announced that it intended to look into how Trump broke the Presidential Records Act while he was in office and after he left. Its members were also interested in the materials he destroyed, some when the former president placed them in burn bags. They want to explore social media records, which were deleted. Other information they wanted to investigate included Trump and his staff using “non-official electronic messaging accounts for official business.”
The Oversight Committee has been working almost in tandem with the House’s January 6 Select Committee. The Select Committee has been scrutinizing Trump’s actions before, during, and after he ginned up a mob to overthrow the sitting government. This and numerous other coup attempts failed.
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