National Archives Lawyer Pushed for Clarity on Trump Papers, Emails Show
(Bloomberg) -- The National Archives and Records Administration released another set of documents related to the storage of classified material and presidential documents at Mar-a-Lago by former President Donald Trump.
Most Read from Bloomberg
- Musk Will Resign as Twitter CEO and Focus on Engineering
- Musk Lashes Out at Unhappy Investor as Tesla Shares Retreat
- Messi Evacuated by Helicopter After Crowds Swarm World Cup Winners
- Amazon Ring Cameras Used in Nationwide ‘Swatting’ Spree, US Says
- Trump’s Tax Records to Be Released by Democrats After House Panel Vote
The 573-pages of emails posted Tuesday show how Gary Stern, NARA’s general counsel, pushed officials internally to set the record straight after news reports first surfaced last February claiming the agency “raided” Mar-a-Lago to obtain the presidential records Trump wrongfully took with him after he left office.
The first 150 pages all deal with NARA trying to get approval for a public statement related to reports from February that presidential records were not turned over to it. The records also show how the archives planned to respond to several inquiries about Trump’s missing presidential records from Democratic Representative Carolyn Maloney, chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, whose panel has been probing the issue.
The agency released the documents in response to Freedom of Information Act lawsuits filed by Bloomberg News and dozens of FOIA requests by other news organizations. In a letter attached to the documents that NARA sent to Bloomberg News, the agency said it plans to release additional records in January.
NARA previously released emails that showed how its top attorney tried to get a former Trump administration official to return correspondence between Trump and and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Trump Correspondence With Kim Missing, Archives Tells Lawyers
NARA has located thousands of pages of documents related to its yearlong effort to get Trump officials to return records that were taken to Mar-a-Lago. But the vast majority of the records NARA has processed in response to the FOIA requests have been withheld by NARA, citing the Justice Department’s ongoing criminal investigation into the matter.
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
- Apple Investors’ Loyalty Is Rewarded With a $454 Billion Gift
- Child Care Faces $24 Billion Fiscal Cliff as Pandemic Aid Ends
- China’s Hasty Reopening Is a Risky Bet That Beijing Can Control the Narrative
- How a Cocaine-Smuggling Cartel Infiltrated the World’s Biggest Shipping Company
- How to Make Cars Safer for Women? Use Crash-Test Dummies That Resemble Them
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.