National Archives retrieves Trump White House records from Mar-a-Lago [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• The National Archives and Records Administration recovered 5 boxes of White House records from former President Donald Trump’s resort-home Mar-a-Lago.
• Those records should have been turned over to the National Archives once Trump left office.
• The documents include the letters North Korean president Kim Jong Un sent to Trump.

Former President Donald Trump took several boxes of White House records to his Mar-a-Lago resort-home in Florida. Documents include notes from North Korean President Kim Jong Un that Trump called “love letters,” the Washington Post reported Monday.

Last month, the documents were turned over to the National Archives and Records Administration, however, the incident triggered doubts about Trump’s compliance with federal law.

According to The Presidential Records Act of 1978, U.S. presidents are required to preserve memos, letters, notes, emails, faxes and other written communications related to their official duties and turn them over to the National Archives at the end of a presidency.

Trump advisers insist there was no ​intent to skirt the law and noted that the boxes contained mementos, gifts, and letters from world leaders, the report said.​

Among the items was the letter from former President Barack Obama ​left for Trump upon the latter’s inauguration in January 2017.

Archives personnel told the Washington Post the incident illustrates the difficulties they’ve had trying to preserve records from Trump’s four years in office. The report noted that while all administrations have recorded some Presidential Records Act violations, the Trump White House is “out of the ordinary,” according to one source.

“The only way that a president can really be held accountable long-term is to preserve a record about who said what, who did what, what policies were encouraged or adopted, and that is such an important part of the long-term scope of accountability — beyond just elections and campaigns,” presidential historian Lindsay Chervinsky ​told the paper.

However, one archives official said the Presidential Records Act operates on the basis of a “gentlemen’s agreement” and that the agency’s enforcement ability is limited.

In recent weeks, the archives has also turned over damaged Trump White House documents — including some that were ripped up or shredded — to the House select commit​tee as part of its investigation into last year’s Capitol riot, when a mob of Trump supporters tried to force the overturning of the results of the 2020 presidential election. 

Trump sued to keep the documents out of the hands of the House committee, but the Supreme Court last month declined to reverse lower court rulings and block their release.

Source: AOL