But what the National Archives and Records Administration has never been—until now—is the site of a criminal investigation of a former president. But that’s exactly where the agency stands after it sent a subpoena to the FBI saying 15 boxes recovered from former President Donald Trump’s Florida home in January contained dozens of classified documents. “I don’t think Donald Trump has politicized the National Archives,” said Tim Naftali, the first director of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum. “I think what Donald Trump did was overstep the red lines that public servants have to meet.” These government employees operate out of the public eye, behind the marble facade of the Archives building in downtown Washington. It is there, beyond the Hollywood plots, that a crucial element of the federal bureaucracy is based, with dozens of employees acting as custodians of American history, maintaining records that range from the mundane to the monumental. A closer look at the National Archives, its history and how it ended up in the middle of a political whirlwind: A GREAT COLLECTION Established by Congress in 1934, the mission of the National Archives sounds clear: to be the nation’s record keeper. It is a difficult task that has become more complex over time. While the Archives protect valuable national documents such as the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, this is only the public face of their extensive collection, which spans 13 billion pages of text and 10 million maps, charts and plans, as well . such as tens of millions of photos, movies and other files. In addition to its work in Washington, the Archives oversees 13 presidential libraries and 14 regional archives across the country.
ARCHIVIST FOR A NATION The United States Archivist is responsible for the operation of the service. The last confirmed leader in the Senate was David Ferriero, who resigned in April after 12 years serving three presidents. Ferriero recalled in an April interview with the Washington Post how he watched from the windows of the Archives building on Jan. 6, 2021, as the crowd of Trump supporters filed past on their way to breach the Capitol. He called it the worst day of his life. More than a year later he decided to retire, in part because of fears about the nation’s political trajectory. “It’s important to me that this administration replaces me,” he told the Post. “I’m worried about what’s going to happen in 2024. I don’t want it to be left to the … unknowns of the presidential election.” His deputy, Debra Steidel Wall, serves as acting archivist, while President Joe Biden’s nominee, Colleen Joy Shogan, awaits Senate confirmation this fall. The archivist serves in the role until he or she decides to retire.
‘NO SUCH THINGS AS MEMORIES’ The Archives serve as the final resting place for the work of any White House. After the Watergate scandal and Nixon’s resignation, Congress passed a law in 1978 to ensure that all presidential records — written, electronic material created by the president, vice president, or any other member of the executive branch in an official capacity — are preserved and delivered to the Archives at the end of an administration. The law states that a president’s records are not his own but are the property of the federal government and must be treated as such. When a new administration begins, White House staff receive a pamphlet on the law and step-by-step instructions on how to maintain records. Preservation requirements cover a wide range of items, including gifts and letters from foreign leaders. “There are no such things as souvenirs,” said Lee White, the executive director of the National Coalition for History. Additionally, the law requires that even when in office, the president or any member of that administration must first seek the archivist’s advice before destroying any records, a practice that Trump and his aides reportedly ignored during the four years of his term. “What he writes is essentially a presidential record. It’s not his property,” White said. “It’s so central to the whole idea of why the Presidential Records Act was created.” “At noon on the day of the inauguration, custody is transferred to the archivist. Period. Maybe there isn’t. It is the law,” he added.
AN UNPRECEDENTED DECISION The rules of the Presidential Records Act are central to the FBI’s investigation of Trump. After Trump left office, the Archives discovered records were missing from his White House. What followed was a year-long tussle between the Archives’ legal counsel and Trump’s lawyers that resulted in the voluntary return of 15 boxes of presidential records. Upon opening the boxes, the agency discovered that 14 of them contained classified documents and information. Recognizing a possible crime, the agency made the unprecedented decision to refer the matter to the Department of Justice. That move culminated in the search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in August. FBI agents discovered more than 100 classified files, including some hidden in the former president’s office among personal effects. Since the August 8 investigation, the Archives and its employees have been bombarded with threats and accusations. The acting archivist in an email to agency staff noted that their work is nonpartisan and urged them to remain steadfast in their mission. “The National Archives has been the focus of intense scrutiny for months, especially this week, with many people attributing political motivation to our actions,” Wall wrote in an Aug. 24 letter. “NARA has received messages from the public accusing us of corruption and conspiracy against the former President or congratulating NARA for ‘bringing him down’.” “It is neither accurate nor welcome,” he added. Wall has worked for more than three decades at the Archives, starting as a trainee archivist and working his way up to the second line. She said in her letter that despite the political storm surrounding the agency, staff must continue their work “without grace or fear, in the service of our democracy.”
A BATTLE OF ARCHIVE CONFIRMATIONS? Five days before the Mar-a-Lago search, Biden announced he would nominate Shogan, a White House Historical Association official who previously spent a decade at the Library of Congress, as the next archivist. Candidates for the position are usually confirmed without controversy or fanfare. But that is unlikely this time. Sogan faces a charged confirmation process as Republicans demand answers about the Justice Department investigation and the Archives’ role in facilitating it. A confirmation hearing this fall has yet to be scheduled, but it could end up being unusually contentious. House and Senate Republicans pressed for more information about how the Archives made the decision to refer the Trump case to federal investigators. Representative James Comer of Kentucky, the top Republican on the House Oversight and Reform Committee, sent a letter Thursday demanding that the custodian of the Archives provide documents and communications in the case. “Transparency is especially important in the post-pandemic era, when Americans lack confidence in our institutions,” Comer wrote. So far, the National Archives has rejected requests from both Democrats and Republicans to the committees that oversee the agency, instead referring them to the Justice Department where the investigation is now underway.
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