The National Archives and Records Administration has informed the House Oversight Committee that some records from the Trump White House have not been turned over in compliance with the Presidential Records Act.
In a letter Friday to the panel’s chairwoman, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., acting archivist Debra Steidel Wall said that the National Archives is still attempting to retrieve records from Trump administration officials who “conducted official business using non-official electronic messaging accounts.”
“While there is no easy way to establish absolute accountability, we do know that we do not have custody of everything we should,” Wall wrote.
She said that the National Archives would consult with the Justice Department on whether “to initiate an action for the recovery of records unlawfully removed.”
Wall noted that the DOJ sued former Trump White House aide Peter Navarro to obtain official email records. Navarro was also ordered to stand trial in November on criminal contempt of Congress charges for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House Jan. 6 committee.
Sept. 13, 202200:45
Wall also did not indicate whether former President Donald Trump turned over all the presidential records, and referred Maloney to the DOJ in light of its ongoing investigation.
In a statement to NBC News, Maloney said it is “outrageous” that some records from the Trump White House remain “unaccounted for 20 months” after his presidency ended.
“Trump and his senior staff have shown an utter disregard for the rule of law and our national security by failing to return presidential records as the law requires,” Maloney said. “I will continue to do everything in my power to ensure that all presidential records from the Trump White House are returned to the custody of the government and to make sure these abuses never happen again.”
Last month, Maloney asked the National Archives to review whether the former president still possesses any records he took from the White House after more than 100 classified documents were found at his Mar-a-Lago property during a search by the FBI.
In a letter to Wall, Maloney wrote that she is concerned that “sensitive presidential records may remain out of the control and custody” of the federal government because 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.”
Maloney also requested the written certification from Trump to confirm that he had not made copies or transfers of presidential records to anyone besides the National Archives or the DOJ.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
