Politics - News Analysis

Trump Releases Statement Saying He Was Allowed to Smuggle Documents to Mar-a-Lago, Thank You Very Much

The bittersweet irony of Trump coming under legal fire for his participation in election fraud is growing as new information comes out, such as the fact that he claimed he was not under any obligation to return the 15 boxes of documents he took from the White House at the end of his presidency.

Trump’s exact statement read: “The papers were given easily and without conflict and on a very friendly basis, which is different from the accounts being drawn up by the Fake News Media.” He then says that he legally had the right to remove the papers from the White House, although the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) disagrees.

The NARA was responsible for going out to Trump’s Mar-A-Lago home in Florida to retrieve the records, which they could do under the protection of the Presidential Records Act of 1978. This is not the first time the organization had had a run-in with Trump because, during his time as FLOTUS, he had a little (illegal) habit of ripping up documents when he was done with them.

The evidence suggests that some of the documents Trump took with him are classified, meaning his offense is even more severe than initially thought. Whether or not he was telling the truth about the White House Staff turning over the documents without a fight, or whether his ways were a bit more sleazy than that, the important thing is what the papers could reveal when they are finally reviewed.

It’s also a bit much to hope that all the records are intact and readable, as Trump’s habit of ripping things so that they had to be taped back together went even further than earlier stated. There have also been multiple reports from different sources that staffers often found toilets clogged due to being stuffed with official White House documents.

Veronica O'Brien
meet the author

Veronica O'Brien is a Massachusetts-based freelance writer. She graduated from Framingham State University with a B.A. in English.

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