Wednesday 5 October 2022 03:09 AM Trump says National Archives should return files seized in Mar-a-Lago raid trends now
Donald Trump has fired off another attack on the National Archives and Records Administration, which handles presidential records, after the FBI seized thousands of documents from Mar-a-Lago that were allegedly government property.
'There is no security at NARA. I want my documents back!' Trump complained in a lengthy statement on Tuesday, accusing the federal agency of bungling the handling of government documents.
The Justice Department says it seized roughly 11,000 documents, including about 100 with classification markings, during an August 8 search of Mar-a-Lago, during a probe into potential violations of laws governing the handling of government records.
Investigators say that many of those documents belong in the National Archives, but Trump lashed out at the agency in his statement, citing an embarrassing 2009 incident in which NARA lost a hard drive of records from the Clinton administration.
Donald Trump slammed the National Archives and Records Administration, which handles presidential records, after the FBI seized thousands of documents from Mar-a-Lago
Trump lashed out at the National Archives in a statement on Tuesday, citing a 2009 scandal in which the agency lost a hard drive with records from the Clinton administration
Trump shared a CNN report that detailed how NARA lost the external hard drive containing confidential personal information, including the names, phone numbers and Social Security numbers of White House staff members and visitors.
'NARA lost a whole hard drive full of HIGHLY SENSITIVE information from the Clinton White House,' wrote Trump. 'What else have they "lost"? How can Americans trust a system like this?'
The hard drive in question was found to be missing from a processing room at NARA’s College Park, Maryland facility in March 2009.
The missing drive contained names and social security numbers for some 15,750 individuals, according to a statement from the agency.
NARA said at the time that the hard drive did not contain any original records, only backups. But it does not appear the missing drive was ever located.
The National Archives press office did not immediately respond to an inquiry from DailyMail.com after business hours on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Trump has asked the Supreme Court to intervene in the Mar-a-Lago case, after an Appeals Court ruling that put a stop to allowing a 'special master' to review classified documents seized from the president's Florida club.
The FBI raided Mar-a-Lago August 8, retrieving about 100 classified documents
Trump wants to revert back to a process where a senior judge acting as a special master pores over material seized in the raid of his Florida club to adjudicate Trump's claims over material the former president considers privileged.
That could allow Trump to use that review to bounce certain material marked as 'classified' or even 'top secret' and keep it out of the hands of government investigators as part of their probe related to removal and retention of government national security documents.
Trump's lawyers asked Justice Clarence Thomas to issue an order that would undo the appeals court's move on an emergency basis. Thomas, who has emerged to lead the court's 6-3 conservative majority, oversees the 11th
