Page 3 - aruba-today-20220824
P. 3
A3
U.S. NEWS Wednesday 24 august 2022
More than 100 classified Trump docs recovered back in Jan.
By ERIC TUCKER identified items marked as
Associated Press classified at the top secret
WASHINGTON (AP) — The level as well as information
National Archives and Re- about special access pro-
cords Administration re- grams.
covered more than 100 It says the records includ-
documents bearing clas- ed over 100 documents
sified markings, totaling with classified markings,
more than 700 pages, from “comprising more than
an initial batch of 15 boxes 700 pages” and cites an
retrieved from Mar-a-Lago excerpt from separate cor-
earlier this year, according respondence from the Jus-
to newly public govern- tice Department’s National
ment correspondence with Security Division saying that
the Trump legal team. “access to the materials
The numbers make clear is not only necessary for
the large volume of secret purposes of our ongoing
government documents criminal investigation” but
recovered months ago also for an “assessment of
from former President Don- the potential damage” re-
ald Trump’s Florida estate, sulting from the manner in
well before FBI officials re- which the documents were
turned there with a search transported and stored.
warrant on Aug. 8 and re- A letter from acting archivist of the United States Debra Steidel Wall to former President Donald Corcoran did not imme-
moved an additional 11 Trump’s legal team is photographed Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2022. Associated Press diately return messages
sets of classified records. seeking comment on the
The warrant reveals an FBI letter.q
investigation into the po- The letter was made pub-
tential unlawful possession lic Tuesday on the website
of the records as well as of the National Archives. It
obstruction of justice. was released Monday night
The figures on documents on a website launched by
were included in a May 10 John Solomon, who was
letter in which acting ar- appointed by Trump in
chivist Debra Steidel Wall June to be one of his des-
told a lawyer for Trump, ignated representatives to
Evan Corcoran, that the the National Archives and
Biden administration would who is a Trump ally and
not be honoring the for- conservative journalist.
mer president’s protective The archivist’s letter says the
claims of executive privi- Justice Department had
lege over the documents. found “no precedent for
Corcoran had weeks ear- an assertion of executive
lier requested additional privilege by a former Presi-
time to review the materials dent against an incumbent
in the boxes before the Na- President to prevent the
tional Archives produced latter” from obtaining from
them to the FBI so that he the National Archives presi-
could determine whether dential records that belong
any specific document to the federal government
was subject to executive and that are needed for
privilege and therefore ex- current government busi-
empt from disclosure, ac- ness.
cording to the letter. As a result, the letter said,
claims of executive privi-
ARUBA lege would not be honored
and the FBI would be given
CLEAN access to the documents
in a matter of days.
The National Archives had
asked the Justice Depart-
ment to investigate after
saying that it had located
classified material among
the 15 boxes of records it
retrieved from Mar-a-Lago
that it said should have
been turned over by Trump
at the end of his White
IS MORE House tenure.
DUSHI writes that in those boxes,
In the letter, archivist Wall
the National Archives had