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Then-President Donald Trump shushed journalists before signing legislation on June 5, 2020 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Watchdogs Demand DOJ Probe Into Trump's Destruction of Official Records
"The Department of Justice must act to investigate and to hold Trump accountable for his reckless behavior."
Feb 09, 2022
A pair of government watchdog organizations on Tuesday urged the Biden Justice Department to launch an investigation into former President Donald Trump's reported habit of tearing up briefings, schedules, memos, and other official records, a likely violation of federal law.
"There is no excuse for hiding important information from the public."
In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and the National Security Archive noted that "throughout his term in office, President Trump and other White House officials demonstrated a serious disregard for their recordkeeping responsibilities under the Presidential Records Act."
"President Trump's actions," the groups wrote, "appear to violate 18 U.S.C. SS 1361, which makes it a crime to willfully injure or commit any depredation against United States property in excess of $1,000, and 18 U.S.C. SS 2017, which makes it a crime to willfully destroy or mutilate federal records."
The organizations pointed to recent Washington Post reports detailing Trump's "penchant" for ripping government documents and revealing that--throughout the former president's tenure--White House staffers "frequently put documents into 'burn bags' to be destroyed, rather than preserving them."
"The ripping was so relentless that Trump's team implemented protocols to try to ensure that he was abiding by the Presidential Records Act," the Post reported Saturday. "Typically, aides from either the Office of the Staff Secretary or the Oval Office Operations team would come in behind Trump to retrieve the piles of torn paper he left in his wake... Then, staffers from the White House Office of Records Management were generally responsible for jigsawing the documents back together, using clear tape."
One unnamed person familiar with the president's potentially unlawful habit told the Post that they "once saw Trump tear up a piece of paper and then slip it into the pocket of his suit jacket."
Last week, the newspaper reported that some of the Trump White House records recently handed over to the House panel investigating the January 6 insurrection had been torn up and reassembled with Scotch tape. Other official documents--15 boxes worth--had to be retrieved from Trump's private Mar-a-Lago residence, where they were improperly stored.
Noah Bookbinder, the president of CREW, said in a statement Tuesday that "Trump's repeated and apparently willful destruction of his presidential records threatens to deny the American people a full historical record of his presidency and an opportunity to hold him and his administration fully accountable for their actions while in power."
"There is no excuse for hiding important information from the public," said Bookbinder. "The Department of Justice must act to investigate and to hold Trump accountable for his reckless behavior."
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This country and this world are at a monumental crossroads. US voters have an opportunity to beat back the forces of fascism and confront the billionaires who are rigging the economy, our media system, and our democracy, making it increasingly impossible for ordinary people to get by. We’re not just talking about the election. We’re talking about what must be done once these fascist elements are vanquished from power. We need a bolder set of solutions than what either major party has so far been willing to offer and a working-class movement ready to fight like hell for it. Trump didn't emerge from nowhere. The conditions that fueled MAGA authoritarianism were created by decades of radical neoliberal economic policies and a corrupt political system dominated by corporate interests. They slashed taxes on the super-rich, promising that the benefits would trickle down. They said giveaways to the corporate titans would make life more affordable for the rest of us. It was all bullshit. And when a bitter, betrayed populace searches for someone to blame, right-wing demagogues have little trouble finding scapegoats. People know when they're being lied to, but you won't hear any of this from the corporate media. Only independent journalism—powered and funded by people who believe in building a better world—can deliver truly trustworthy daily news. If you share our vision, please contribute whatever you can to sustain our work. |
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A pair of government watchdog organizations on Tuesday urged the Biden Justice Department to launch an investigation into former President Donald Trump's reported habit of tearing up briefings, schedules, memos, and other official records, a likely violation of federal law.
"There is no excuse for hiding important information from the public."
In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and the National Security Archive noted that "throughout his term in office, President Trump and other White House officials demonstrated a serious disregard for their recordkeeping responsibilities under the Presidential Records Act."
"President Trump's actions," the groups wrote, "appear to violate 18 U.S.C. SS 1361, which makes it a crime to willfully injure or commit any depredation against United States property in excess of $1,000, and 18 U.S.C. SS 2017, which makes it a crime to willfully destroy or mutilate federal records."
The organizations pointed to recent Washington Post reports detailing Trump's "penchant" for ripping government documents and revealing that--throughout the former president's tenure--White House staffers "frequently put documents into 'burn bags' to be destroyed, rather than preserving them."
"The ripping was so relentless that Trump's team implemented protocols to try to ensure that he was abiding by the Presidential Records Act," the Post reported Saturday. "Typically, aides from either the Office of the Staff Secretary or the Oval Office Operations team would come in behind Trump to retrieve the piles of torn paper he left in his wake... Then, staffers from the White House Office of Records Management were generally responsible for jigsawing the documents back together, using clear tape."
One unnamed person familiar with the president's potentially unlawful habit told the Post that they "once saw Trump tear up a piece of paper and then slip it into the pocket of his suit jacket."
Last week, the newspaper reported that some of the Trump White House records recently handed over to the House panel investigating the January 6 insurrection had been torn up and reassembled with Scotch tape. Other official documents--15 boxes worth--had to be retrieved from Trump's private Mar-a-Lago residence, where they were improperly stored.
Noah Bookbinder, the president of CREW, said in a statement Tuesday that "Trump's repeated and apparently willful destruction of his presidential records threatens to deny the American people a full historical record of his presidency and an opportunity to hold him and his administration fully accountable for their actions while in power."
"There is no excuse for hiding important information from the public," said Bookbinder. "The Department of Justice must act to investigate and to hold Trump accountable for his reckless behavior."
A pair of government watchdog organizations on Tuesday urged the Biden Justice Department to launch an investigation into former President Donald Trump's reported habit of tearing up briefings, schedules, memos, and other official records, a likely violation of federal law.
"There is no excuse for hiding important information from the public."
In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and the National Security Archive noted that "throughout his term in office, President Trump and other White House officials demonstrated a serious disregard for their recordkeeping responsibilities under the Presidential Records Act."
"President Trump's actions," the groups wrote, "appear to violate 18 U.S.C. SS 1361, which makes it a crime to willfully injure or commit any depredation against United States property in excess of $1,000, and 18 U.S.C. SS 2017, which makes it a crime to willfully destroy or mutilate federal records."
The organizations pointed to recent Washington Post reports detailing Trump's "penchant" for ripping government documents and revealing that--throughout the former president's tenure--White House staffers "frequently put documents into 'burn bags' to be destroyed, rather than preserving them."
"The ripping was so relentless that Trump's team implemented protocols to try to ensure that he was abiding by the Presidential Records Act," the Post reported Saturday. "Typically, aides from either the Office of the Staff Secretary or the Oval Office Operations team would come in behind Trump to retrieve the piles of torn paper he left in his wake... Then, staffers from the White House Office of Records Management were generally responsible for jigsawing the documents back together, using clear tape."
One unnamed person familiar with the president's potentially unlawful habit told the Post that they "once saw Trump tear up a piece of paper and then slip it into the pocket of his suit jacket."
Last week, the newspaper reported that some of the Trump White House records recently handed over to the House panel investigating the January 6 insurrection had been torn up and reassembled with Scotch tape. Other official documents--15 boxes worth--had to be retrieved from Trump's private Mar-a-Lago residence, where they were improperly stored.
Noah Bookbinder, the president of CREW, said in a statement Tuesday that "Trump's repeated and apparently willful destruction of his presidential records threatens to deny the American people a full historical record of his presidency and an opportunity to hold him and his administration fully accountable for their actions while in power."
"There is no excuse for hiding important information from the public," said Bookbinder. "The Department of Justice must act to investigate and to hold Trump accountable for his reckless behavior."
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