Trump constantly tore up important documents during the presidency: now this greatly complicates the investigation into the storming of the Capitol

When the National Archives and Records Administration handed over many documents to the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 assault on the Capitol, some of them were torn up and then glued together. Writes about it The Washington Post.

Photo: Shutterstock

The 45th President of the United States, Donald Trump, was notorious in the White House for his unusual, potentially illegal habit of tearing presidential papers to shreds and throwing them on the floor. This created a headache for document management analysts, who meticulously used scotch tape to put together fragments that were sometimes the size of confetti.

But despite the Presidential Records Act, which requires the preservation of memos, letters, notes, emails, faxes, and other written communications related to the president's official duties, the unblemished practice of shredding documents appears to have continued into the latter stages of his presidency.

The National Archives took the unusual step of confirming the data and said the documents handed over from the White House "included paper records that were torn up by President Trump."

According to the archive, some documents handed over by the White House were not reconstructed at all.

The archive gave the committee more than 700 pages of documents, including many records of the events of January 6, 2021, among which were torn and reconstructed. This was said on condition of anonymity by three people familiar with the records.

On the subject: Trump compared immigrants to an ungrateful snake: he borrowed this idea from the communists

Officials from the National Archives said that "White House officials in charge of records management during the Trump administration have repaired and patched together some of the torn records. They were transferred to the National Archives at the end of the Trump administration, along with a number of torn documents that were not reconstructed by the White House. The Presidential Records Act requires that all records created by presidents be transferred to the National Archives at the end of their term."

According to preliminary data, the president's diaries, charts, information about meetings, handwritten notes about the events of January 6 from the White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, speeches, remarks and much more were damaged. The archivist intends to hand over more documents in the coming weeks and months.

Stephen Gillers, an NYU law professor and constitutional scholar, said the White House documents torn up by Trump are clearly government property under the Presidential Records Act.

You may be interested in: top New York news, stories of our immigrants and helpful tips about life in the Big Apple - read it all on ForumDaily New York

“Therefore, destroying them can be a crime under several laws that make it a crime to destroy government property if that was the intent of the defendant,” Gillers said. “The President does not own the documents created by his administration. The definition of presidential records is broad. Trump's own notes to himself could qualify as presidential notes, and destroying them could be destroying government property."

Trump attempted to claim ownership of four pages of the minutes of the 2020 election security presidential opinions, four pages of a draft executive order on election integrity, three pages of abstracts on alleged electoral fraud, and two pages of text from the president's "March to the Rescue" speech. America" ​​on January 6, 2021.

Trump recently criticized the Jan. 6 House Committee and raised the issue of pardoning those charged with the attack on the US Capitol if he runs and wins re-election in 2024.

As ForumDaily wrote earlier:

• On January 6, 2021, the US Congress met in Washington, D.C. to approve the results of the presidential election. At the same time numerous supporters of the incumbent US President Donald Trump crowded under the Capitol building to protest against these results. The situation quickly escalated and turned into chaos.
• House of Representatives and Senate confirmed Joe Biden's win early Thursday morning January 7. During the protests near the Capitol, at least 4 people died, there were victims. The chaos near the Capitol was condemned by the leaders of many countries.
• US President Donald Trump returns to Twitter after 12 hours of blocking his account and posted a video in which he severely condemned the people who broke into the Capitol, and also admitted defeat for the first time in the elections.
• This assault resulted in Trump's second impeachment trial launched.
• 45th US President Donald Trump files lawsuit in D.C. court against the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Uprising and the National Archives to keep records made during his presidency secret, demanding executive privileges.

Read also on ForumDaily:

Rudy Giuliani became a member of the popular singing show and made a splash in the first episode

Personal experience: for a joke about the communists in the USA, you can lose your job

Trump compared immigrants to an ungrateful snake: he borrowed this idea from the communists

Trump said that he is the '45th and 47th President of the United States': what are the chances of winning the 2024 elections give him polls

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.