The Archives arranged for the transport of about 15 boxes of records from Trump’s Florida resort last month after the agency sought them from the former President’s team.
“NARA has identified items marked as classified national security information within the boxes,” Ferriero wrote, responding to a question from the House. “Because NARA identified classified information in the boxes, NARA staff has been in communication with the Department of Justice.”
The Archives, which maintains executive branch records after a president leaves office, said in the Friday letter that it is “in the process of inventorying the contents of the boxes.” That process is expected to be complete by February 25, Ferriero wrote.
The Archives also has asked Trump’s representatives to search for additional records that may be missing from the government’s collection, according to the letter.
In 2018, the Archives had asked a lawyer at the White House for more information about media reports at the time that Trump was tearing up documents, and that White House staff would tape them back together.
But the problem continued, the Archives told the House committee on Friday.
“The White House Counsel’s Office indicated that they would address the matter,” Ferriero wrote. “After the end of the Trump Administration, NARA learned that additional paper records that had been torn up by former President Trump were included in the records transferred to us. Although White House staff during the Trump Administration recovered and taped together some of the torn-up records, a number of other torn-up records that were transferred had not been reconstructed by the White House.”
The issues that have arisen related to Trump’s presidential records since he left office follow a pattern of behavior that preceded his presidency and continued during his four-year term.
Running afoul of normal preservation procedures, the then-President would often tear up documents, drafts and memos after reading them and is said to have also periodically flushed papers down the toilet in the White House residence — only to be discovered later when repairmen were summoned to fix the clogged toilets. Trump previously denied the allegations.
Other times, the former President would task aides with carrying boxes of unread memos, articles and tweet drafts aboard the presidential aircraft for him to review and then tear to shreds.
This story has been updated with additional reporting Friday.
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