Immediately after former President Donald Trump returned 15 boxes of presidential records to the National Archives and Records Administration earlier this year, he instructed one of his lawyers to tell the agency that all materials requested by the Archives had been returned by Mar -a of. -Lago estate, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
Former Trump Organization lawyer Alex Cannon has been working with Archives representatives since 2021 to facilitate the return of records that had been moved to Trump’s Florida home and resort at the end of his presidency. Because Cannon was based in New York and was helping with the records matter from afar, he wasn’t sure if the Archives had received anything in Trump’s possession and so rejected the former president’s request, people familiar with the matter said. Trump told Cannon not to get involved further, the sources said.
The relationship between the two men had already become strained after months of Trump’s disapproval and questioning why he had to return the items in the first place.
“My understanding is that it was a mutual decision for Alex to no longer be involved with the Archives,” said one of the people familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive conversations.
Unfazed by Cannon’s denial, Trump dictated a statement to aides in February, saying all records had been returned to NARA and dismissing reports that his relationship with the agency had been labeled “fake news.” Two people familiar with the statement, which has never been made public, said it inexplicably referred to the German pipelines. The statement was circulated to several Trump aides for approval, including his spokesman Taylor Budowitz, who was among several advisers who warned the former President to consult his lawyers before releasing her.
Eventually, he released a version of the statement that did not refer to all the documents, but said the documents were returned “on a very amicable basis.”
Budowich, who declined to answer detailed questions for this story, said in a statement Monday: “Biden’s weaponized DOJ has no greater ally than the fake media, which seems to serve only as a partisan mouthpiece of hacks and liars which are buried deep within the bowels. of the American government”.
He continued, “President Trump remains committed to defending the Constitution and the Office of the President, ensuring the integrity of America for generations to come.”
The revelation that Trump wanted to say he had returned all presidential records to Archives officials comes amid a Justice Department investigation into the former president’s retention of government records at Mar-a-Lago, including hundreds of documents that had been marked as graded.
In addition to returning 15 boxes of materials in January and months after Cannon and others rejected Trump’s pleas, two of his lawyers returned additional sensitive files to federal investigators at a June meeting in Mar-a-Lago that followed a grand jury subpoena . previously reported by CNN.
At the time, a lawyer for Trump signed an affidavit stating that all the materials had been turned over. But in August, FBI agents searched Trump’s Palm Beach club and discovered additional classified material and other government records.
The Washington Post first reported on Cannon and the statement Trump drafted earlier this year, claiming all the records had been returned to the Archives. Cannon declined to comment for this story.
It’s still unclear who exactly packed the boxes that were returned to the Archives in January 2022. While some of the boxes were taken directly from Trump’s office, the former President’s aides had been warned by Cannon and other senior officials not to sift through them through boxes left around the property – concerned that they might contain classified information and that most of the former President’s aides did not have security clearances.
Archives officials have since confirmed that the initial batch of boxes returned by Trump’s team did, in fact, contain 184 classified documents, including 25 marked top secret and some annotated with Trump’s handwritten notes.
title: “The Lawyer Refused Trump S Order To Tell The Archives That All The Records Were Returned "
ShowToc: true
date: “2022-11-24”
author: “Leticia Grimes”
Immediately after former President Donald Trump returned 15 boxes of presidential records to the National Archives and Records Administration earlier this year, he instructed one of his lawyers to tell the agency that all materials requested by the Archives had been returned by Mar -a of. -Lago estate, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
Former Trump Organization lawyer Alex Cannon has been working with Archives representatives since 2021 to facilitate the return of records that had been moved to Trump’s Florida home and resort at the end of his presidency. Because Cannon was based in New York and was helping with the records matter from afar, he wasn’t sure if the Archives had received anything in Trump’s possession and so rejected the former president’s request, people familiar with the matter said. Trump told Cannon not to get involved further, the sources said.
The relationship between the two men had already become strained after months of Trump’s disapproval and questioning why he had to return the items in the first place.
“My understanding is that it was a mutual decision for Alex to no longer be involved with the Archives,” said one of the people familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive conversations.
Unfazed by Cannon’s denial, Trump dictated a statement to aides in February, saying all records had been returned to NARA and dismissing reports that his relationship with the agency had been labeled “fake news.” Two people familiar with the statement, which has never been made public, said it inexplicably referred to the German pipelines. The statement was circulated to several Trump aides for approval, including his spokesman Taylor Budowitz, who was among several advisers who warned the former President to consult his lawyers before releasing her.
Eventually, he released a version of the statement that did not refer to all the documents, but said the documents were returned “on a very amicable basis.”
Budowich, who declined to answer detailed questions for this story, said in a statement Monday: “Biden’s weaponized DOJ has no greater ally than the fake media, which seems to serve only as a partisan mouthpiece of hacks and liars which are buried deep within the bowels. of the American government”.
He continued, “President Trump remains committed to defending the Constitution and the Office of the President, ensuring the integrity of America for generations to come.”
The revelation that Trump wanted to say he had returned all presidential records to Archives officials comes amid a Justice Department investigation into the former president’s retention of government records at Mar-a-Lago, including hundreds of documents that had been marked as graded.
In addition to returning 15 boxes of materials in January and months after Cannon and others rejected Trump’s pleas, two of his lawyers returned additional sensitive files to federal investigators at a June meeting in Mar-a-Lago that followed a grand jury subpoena . previously reported by CNN.
At the time, a lawyer for Trump signed an affidavit stating that all the materials had been turned over. But in August, FBI agents searched Trump’s Palm Beach club and discovered additional classified material and other government records.
The Washington Post first reported on Cannon and the statement Trump drafted earlier this year, claiming all the records had been returned to the Archives. Cannon declined to comment for this story.
It’s still unclear who exactly packed the boxes that were returned to the Archives in January 2022. While some of the boxes were taken directly from Trump’s office, the former President’s aides had been warned by Cannon and other senior officials not to sift through them through boxes left around the property – concerned that they might contain classified information and that most of the former President’s aides did not have security clearances.
Archives officials have since confirmed that the initial batch of boxes returned by Trump’s team did, in fact, contain 184 classified documents, including 25 marked top secret and some annotated with Trump’s handwritten notes.
