Does NARA have ALL of the documents & records from the Trump Administration? Probably not.
mandatory read the House Oversight Sept 13, 2022 exhaustive letter to NARA. It’s no longer an opinion, now a record of fact that NARA does not believe they have ALL of the Documents from Trump Admin
Luckily for you this afternoon’s panel discussion was tabled until tomorrow morning. And this provided me with 90 minutes of free time, before the 5:30PM mandatory happy hour. Generally speaking I don’t like industry functions, especially those that multi-day long and mandatory. For a split second I thought I’d return to the hotel and grab a quick power nap or I’d take a long stroll along Boston’s harbor. But then my phone alerted to a new letter from the House Oversight Committee to NARA… and then I decided to make constructive use of my limited free time.
…You can’t claw back all the documents if you are unsure the former Administration provided them..
Well I think that pesky question that some of us have continually asked: has the Department of Justice claw-backed all of the documents & records from the Trump administration” (you can read more here)—for the better part of a month this important question has yet to be answered. That said I do believe asking this particular question is pretty important. Especially in light of the recent House Oversight letter to NARA and let me tell you I read the September 13, 2022 letter to NARA and the current “acting” archivist. I wasn’t the least bit shocked and you shouldn’t be either.
More importantly when you view the aforementioned question, it should not be done in a vacuum. Given there are several moving parts (and Government Agencies) to this nearly 17+ month saga of the Government clawing back classified documents that Trump “stored” a Mar-A-Largo.
Late last week we’ve discussed the “oddity” of Trump’s proposed Order regarding the Special Master. Specifically Trump’s current position that the Special Master should be prohibited from engaging with the NARA. Moreover it’s not lost on me that most of the mainstream media glossed over or frankly just ignored that portion of Trump’s proposed order. Over the weekend I explained what could be driving Trump’s calculus to make such an odd request. Setting aside the legal jeopardy Trump and Christina Bobb, who signed the certification -which was previously noted last month:
I don’t think in August of 2021 I knew just how entrenched Christina Bobb would become in August 2022 but as you’ll note in the Exhibits. The Government proffered the signed document —where we can all see that an attorney signed that document. I mean we are once again at the point where Trump’s attorneys need to hire a competent white collar crime attorney.
House Oversight to NARA: did the Trump Administration turn over ALL documents to your custody?
Relatively speaking I wouldn’t necessarily fault the House Oversight Committee. Remember the Mar-A-Largo Search Warrant was executed while Congress was on their August recess. So in an unsurprising move the House Oversight Committee sent a rather detailed letter to the NARA (again see NARA’s webpage for records related to the Trump Administration) so let’s do a deeper dive into the House OverSight’s September 13, 2022 letter, which reads in part:
In light of revelations that Mr. Trump’s representatives misled investigators about his continued possession of government property and that material found at his club included dozens of “empty folders” for classified material, I am deeply concerned that sensitive presidential records may remain out of the control and custody of the U.S. Government
Incidentally aren’t you glad I previously explained the “types” of possession and then further explained how that can impact intent, specifically criminal intent? At the time I was aware that some of my readers might not fully understand the types of possession, particularly the the context of an ongoing criminal investigation. Not that this matters, but I knew it would be only a matter of time when Congress would initiate its own investigation. If you had read the February 2022 article, you would have already known that the House Oversight committee launched a separate investigation over seven months ago.
“….Trump may still be retaining sensitive government records at Mar-a-Lago or his other properties…”
There it is, on page 2 —some of my readers might have been perplexed by my repeated questions about “all” the documents and the locations where said documents might be unlawfully stored. I can assure you that I was not being flippant when I previously opined on those two areas of questions. No that was me helping my readers open their scope to hopefully fully understand the totality of Trump’s deleterious and dangerous actions.
Those assertions are largely affirmed on page 2 of the September 13, 2022 Letter to NARA. It’s actually the second paragraph on page 2 that I think is extremely important, not in the criminal sense but in the Government Oversight context. This is particularly important given, like many of my readers I’ve often asked: what bills will Congress enact as a colorable safeguard against an unethical and drunk on power executive. Granted I might have not been that eloquent but the gist of my question remains unchanged. Which reads in part:
…as the principal oversight committee of the House of Representatives, the Oversight Committee has been investigating Mr. Trump’s mishandling of presidential records for seven months. This inquiry, which is separate from the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) ongoing criminal investigation into Mr. Trump’s actions, seeks to understand “the full extent of this conduct” in order to “determine what additional steps, including potential legislative reforms, may be needed to ensure the preservation of presidential records for the American people…
…serious risk that Mr. Trump may still be retaining sensitive government records at Mar-a-Lago or his other properties, I urge NARA to seek a personal certification from Donald Trump that he has surrendered all presidential records that he illegally removed from the White House after leaving office. I also ask that the agency conduct an urgent review of presidential records recovered from the Trump White House to assess whether presidential records remain unaccounted for and potentially in the possession of the former president.
The extraordinary deference Trump received by both NARA and DOJ…
Not to belabor this point but if you or I had even a single classified document in our Home, you can be assured the FBI would have arrested us, and we would likely be sitting in jail pending our criminal trial. The fact is Trump and his Attorneys (regarding the unlawful retention and storage of classified documents). For your edification on September 1, 2022 I provided a pretty detailed timeline of events “as we know it” —Moreover I also reminded you that in early into the Biden Administration, reviewed Trump’s (mental and ethical) fitness to continue to receive the daily PDB —and subsequently made the determination that “due to Trump’s eradicate behavior” our IC would no longer provide him with a “curiosity” copy of the PDB. Which is traditionally provided to the former POTUS.
But there’s factual information that I don’t think any of us actually knew. I’m specifically talking about the 38 boxes recovered by the FBI in June of 2022. Again math isn’t my strong suit but I can do simple math. For Example:
June 3, 2022 -the FBI recovered 38 (additional boxes) of “presidential records” which was accompanied by Christina Bobby’s certification
which certified that:” …all documents bearing classified markings had been returned and that no ‘copy, written notation, or reproduction of any kind was retained.’…” and clearly after the August 8, 2022 executed search and seizure warrant we know Trump and his attorney mislead federal investigators (yet again)
Wait hold on because this seems like new information:
And right now that sound you hear is me snort laughing at Kash “Order of Ineptitude” Patel. Because if you read the following sentence —that all but confirms that Kash Patel is in the DOJ crosshairs and that brings me immeasurable joy. Full disclosure I intensely dislike Patel and you can not convince me that he wasn’t part of Trump’s 3+ hour long delay in mobilizing the DC National Guard, when the domestic terrorist that Trump radicalized carried out the deadly Jan6th domestic terror attack on our Capitol. Full disclosure back in 2017 I spent the better part of 3 weekends tracking down the HPSCI Expense Report. But I digress
…Return to Staff Secretary or Military Aide…some documents might have been moved to Bedminster…
Interestingly enough it’s Trump’s former National Security Advisor who expressed rightful concern that some of the documents might have found their way to Trump’s Bedminster property… see last paragraph on page 4 of the newly released House Oversight Letter to NARA because there’s a lot of factual information contained herein;
DOJ identified 48 empty folders with classified banners, as well as 42 empty folders labeled as “Return to Staff Secretary or Military Aide.” Although it is not clear from the inventory list why these folders were empty, the apparent separation of classified material and presidential records from their designated folders raises questions as to how the materials were stored and whether sensitive material may have been lost or obtained by third parties.
…Trump’s former National Security Advisor John Bolton has expressed concern that Mr. Trump might have transferred classified documents to other clubs, such as Bedminster National Golf Club, where he recently hosted a professional golf tournament sponsored and attended by numerous foreign officials
During an August 24, 2022 conference call with House OverSight staff —NARA stated……agency is not certain whether all presidential records are in its custody…
I ran a few WestLaw and LexisNexis searches and I believe the House OverSight’s September 13, 2022 letter to NARA is the first publicly known August 24, 2022 conference call between the House Committee and NARA
NARA’s staff recently informed the Committee that the agency is not certain whether all presidential records are in its custody…As a result, the Committee requests that NARA conduct an urgent review of presidential records from the Trump Administration to identify any presidential records or categories of presidential records, whether textual or electronic, that NARA has reason to believe may still be outside of the agency’s custody and control….
Rightful so the House OverSight committee has adopted the “keep calm and carry on” approach. Which is something I greatly admire and respect about Chairwoman Maloney. Please don’t ask me to weigh in on the horribly contentious primary. All I will say is I’m sad that she didn’t win the primary. I personally am not a fan of Rep Nadler, again for personal reasons. Again you can read the full September 13, 2022 letter -here or via the embedded link in this tweet:
And lastly your daily saltwater therapy —filmed in 2019 at one of my favorite places at the beach. I recently recovered this video from one of my old iPhones and watching the seagull walking along the point brings back fun memories when I decided to wake up the kids at 4:45AM and proceeded to take them to my one happy spot on this planet, the point…
Again I’m not sure if I’ll have time to publish an article tomorrow. As it stands my day is booked to the seams and that doesn’t include the few hours that I’ll be on an airplane. Honestly I still can’t wrap my head around flying post pandemic. Or the strange looks I get when I wear my mask or whip out my sanitizer like “quick draw McGraw” —at any rate I should be back in the DC area by 10PM tomorrow and then my workdays will return to slightly normal. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.
Incidentally when I arrived at the symposium I saw his name tag and I had to inform the greeters that my [former boss’ name redacted] had passed away in April of this year and he would not be attending. It was like a punch in the gut. Although I’m oddly proud of myself that I didn’t burst in to tears. So I guess that’s a healthy sign that I’m actively working through the grieving process. Nonetheless it still felt like someone punched me in the gut. It’s been over 139+ days since his suicide. I’m learning that life goes on and the reality is he’s no longer going to fill future chapters of my life. That’s my roundabout way of telling you that I’m not good but I’m getting better. La Sigh.
Also late last night my spouse sent me a Timelapse video of last night’s sunset, video will be posted to my Instagram later this evening . To be candid for a very brief moment I was annoyed. Because I kept thinking “swear to baby CheeseJesus if you end up getting ‘the shot’ I’m going to be unreasonably pissed off” …that’s my one mission my grief counselor challenged me and now you’re like an uninvited interloper. We both laughed at my territorial absurdity but I suppose laughter is the key to a successful marriage.
Things seems to be getting worse and worse for Trump on a minute by minute basis, And I’m not mad about it! 🤣😂🫶 Can’t wait for the Bastard to get his!
Yes. 51 years 🙋♀️