Archivists at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) are no ordinary librarians, to be sure. they are the keepers of the presidential records — every memorandum, letter, gift and executive order that passes through a president’s desk. They painstakingly record and store all these records on behalf of the wider public to whom these objects belong. But few of them could have imagined they would come to light the way they have in recent weeks after their role in the series of events that led to an FBI investigation into Mar-a-Lago was revealed. The National Archives in Washington DC, a towering neoclassical building flanked by 72 Corinthian columns, is almost equidistant from the White House and the US Capitol. His position between these two pillars of democracy is fitting. within its walls are housed some of the most important documents in American history: the original Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, to name a few. But it also houses millions upon millions of government and historical records, which it is obligated to preserve for the benefit of the public. The mission of the National Archives goes far beyond record keeping — as an institution, it sees itself as a protector of democracy and history itself. An inscription carved into the side of the imposing building on Pennsylvania Avenue in giant letters gives an indication of the seriousness with which he takes this role. It states: “This building holds in trust the records of our national life and symbolizes our faith in the permanence of our national institutions.” It seems obvious that Donald Trump, a man who has spent much of his political life trampling on institutions and rules, has underestimated archivists and their mission. The alleged mismanagement of government records now represents the biggest legal threat he faces and potentially the end of his political career. The saga began during Trump’s tumultuous exit from the White House in January 2021. Having fought against the reality of his loss for more than two months and unleashed his supporters on Capitol Hill, Mr. Trump was completely unprepared for a exciting day. On this day, traditionally, it is standard practice for the outgoing president to hand over all government documents in his possession to the National Archives. Mr. Trump, as usual, did not follow tradition. Photos from his hasty departure from the White House showed staff carrying dozens of boxes to Mar-a-Lago, his residence in Palm Beach, Florida. Among those boxes, we now know, were dozens of classified and top secret documents that should have been handed over to the National Archives, which is responsible for evaluating and storing these documents. “It can be a difficult time, obviously, with administrations that were hoping to be re-elected. People are panicking,” Steve Greene, former archivist at the Nixon Presidential Library for more than 15 years, told the Independent. “That’s quite apart from the situation they found themselves in in 2020, with a sitting president who was dismissive of the idea that they lost, which obviously created huge challenges.” “Even at the best of times, it’s an all-around situation. It can attract people from various offices at the National Archives who work almost continuously, long hours and at the weekend to complete this kind of work. It’s important work, and my colleagues who have done it repeatedly have my respect,” added Mr. Green, who also worked at the National Archives in Maryland. David Ferriero, the 10th Archivist of the United States, would later recall the series of events that led them to suspect that not everything had been delivered to the archives. In an interview to celebrate his retirement in May, Mr. Ferriero said he was told by the White House Archives Management Office that there were boxes in the White House residence that needed to go to the Archives. “As we moved materials from the White House just before the inauguration, these boxes had not yet appeared,” he told Washington Post. “I can remember watching the Trumps leave the White House and get in the helicopter that day, and someone carrying a white banker’s box and saying to myself, ‘What the hell is in that box?’ he added. It took a few months for archives officials to realize that some important documents appeared to be missing from the boxes Trump delivered to them. NARA chief counsel Gary Stern wrote to Trump’s lawyers asking for their return in May. “We know things are very chaotic as they are always in a one-year transition,” he wrote. “But it is absolutely necessary that we obtain and account for all presidential records.” Mr. Trump’s problems might have ended there if he had quickly returned all classified documents in his possession. But he went another way. Despite repeated requests from NARA officials, Trump’s team delayed and balked for months before finally delivering 15 boxes to the National Archives in January 2022. After going through these 15 boxes, the archivists made a shocking discovery. The boxes were filled with documents clearly marked as classified, secret and top secret — the highest security classifications — mixed in with printouts of news and other information. In total, they found 184 unique classified documents, 67 documents marked confidential, 92 documents marked secret, and 25 documents marked top secret. The National Archives then made the emergency decision to refer the matter to the Department of Justice for a possible investigation into the mishandling of classified records. Agency officials wanted to recover other documents in the former president’s possession. Papers that should have been returned to NARA ended up at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved) “Based on everything I’ve been told about the way management has conducted business, I was shocked, but not surprised,” Mr. Greene said. “It’s obviously worrying,” he added. “The National Archives usually keep a pretty low profile and I used to make fun of people who liked us that way.” Mr. Green said the national security component of those documents was “certainly the primary issue” to urgently request the National Archives. “If this was purely a records management dispute, I doubt it would generate the level of interest and partisan disputes that we’re seeing,” he said, adding that concerns about the Trump administration’s handling of documents were “long-standing.” “The rumors that he was tearing up documents and later that he actually flushed documents down the toilet had been circulating for some time. And it’s not a good look for anybody,” he said. But he added that part of the problem lies in the imbalance between this relatively small federal agency and the power of the White House. “We’re a tiny federal agency with big powers, but no realistic ways of enforcing them,” he said. With the media unable to compel Mr. Trump to hand over the documents, the archives took the matter to the Justice Department. That subpoena led to a Justice Department investigation, which eventually led to a search of Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property, where yet another trove of secret and classified documents was found. An inventory of the investigation unsealed on Friday revealed that agents seized more than 100 “unique classified documents”, including three stored in Mr Trump’s office, as well as 90 empty folders that once held highly sensitive documents. After the Mar-a-Lago investigation, Mr. Trump and his allies sharply criticized the records, drawing them into a political battle he was ill-equipped to handle. “They could have had it whenever they wanted — and that includes LONG BEFORE. ALL THEY HAD TO DO IS ASK. The biggest problem is, what will they do with the 33 million pages of documents, many of them classified, that President Obama brought to Chicago?” Mr. Trump wrote on the Truth Social website on Aug. 12. That post prompted a rare response from the National Archives, which quickly dismissed Mr. Trump’s baseless claim. He was saying to a statement that NARA “assumed sole legal and physical custody of the Obama presidential records when President Barack Obama left office in 2017, pursuant to the Presidential Records Act.” “As required by the PRA, former President Obama has no control over where and how NARA stores his administration’s presidential records,” the statement added. A US Justice Department subpoena filed against Donald Trump has shown some of the documents found by FBI agents at Mar-a-Lago (US DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE/AFP via) Although the most controversial elements of the case passed through the hands of the National Archives to the Department of Justice and the FBI, attention was not paid to it. In a letter to NARA staff this week, Acting Archivist Debra Wall said the agency was under attack for its role in the investigation into Mr. Trump’s handling of records. “The National Archives has been the focus of intense scrutiny for months, especially this week, with many people attributing political motivation to our actions. NARA has received messages from the public accusing us of corruption and conspiracy against the former President or congratulating NARA for ‘Bringing Him Down,’” she He wroteaccording to a copy of the letter obtained by CNN. “It is neither accurate nor welcome,” he added. “Over the past 30-plus years as NARA…
