United States: Donald Trump under investigation into the management of his official documents

Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House in October 2020 when he was President of the United States.

AP - Alex Brandon

Text by: RFI Follow

2 mins

In the United States, Donald Trump's management of his official documents raises questions.

In recent weeks, the former US president has been accused several times of having deliberately neglected some of his files before their transmission, however mandatory, to the US National Archives.

According to the American media, several investigations have been opened.

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When an American president leaves his post, he does not take with him the documents related to his office.

A 1978 law requires him to send all of his e-mails, letters, memos and other working documents to the National Archives, a federal agency responsible for keeping them.

Donald Trump is suspected of negligence during his mandate, even of having sought to empty his mind before leaving.

In a forthcoming book, a journalist from the

assures that White House staff regularly found sheaves of papers clogging the White House toilets.

The National Archives also went to the former president's private residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, and recovered 15 boxes of documents: letters from Barack Obama,

, with which he maintained a regular correspondence, but also, much more sensitive, several files classified as “secret defense”.

Some Trump records that were taken to Mar-a-Lago were clearly marked as classified, including documents at the 'top secret' level https://t.co/4r9rhrBECa

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) February 10, 2022

Torn and glued documents

Other documents sent to the Archives were torn or glued together, which is also against the law.

The federal agency would have asked for the opening of an investigation.

Information from the

, which the Department of Justice has not confirmed. 

Last week, the National Archives also revealed that the former leader had a habit of tearing up some of his working documents, another practice contrary to the 1978 law. Sheets of paper sent to the Archives had been " 

” by “ 

 ”, others left as they were, they said.

A congressional committee has opened its own investigation into the records because they could prove crucial in the investigation

.

In a statement from his lawyer, Donald Trump denies having destroyed documents and stresses that his exchanges with the National Archives have always been respectful. 

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• United States

• donald trump

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