House committee calls on archivist to determine if more Trump documents are
License Photo” alt=”The House oversight and reform committee is calling on the national archivists to determine if additional records from the Trump administration are unaccounted for. File photo via Department of Justice/UPI | License Photo“/>
Dec. 14 (UPI) — Following reports that additional presidential records from the Trump administration have been found in a Florida storage unit, the House oversight and reform committee has called on the national archivist to determine if there are more documents unaccounted for.
Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney sent a letter to acting Archivists Debra Steidel Wall on Tuesday, expressing her deep concern that additional presidential records from the previous administration have not been turned over to the government and may be located in un-secured locations.
The letter was sent after it was reported last week that a search conducted by former President Donald Trump‘s legal counsel under pressure from a federal judge uncovered at least two additional records bearing classified markings in a storage unit close to his Mar-a-Lago resort residence.
Trump has been under criminal investigation for months on allegations he took a trove of governement documents with him when he left the White House in early 2021. In August, FBI agents raided his Mar-a-Lago home and uncovered tens of thousands of documents, including more than 100 marked classified.
However, suspicions have remained that additional documents were still missing, which prompted the recent search.
The House oversight committee has been conducting its own investigation into the president’s alleged mishandling of records and is seeking to understand “the full extent and impact of former President Trump’s violations” of the Presidential Records Act in order to determine next steps and legislative reforms, the New York House Democrat wrote.
“I am deeply concerned by former President Trump’s flagrant disregard for the PRA,” Maloney said in the letter. “I therefore request that NARA, in consultation with other federal entities as appropriate, conduct a review to determine what, if any, presidential records former President Trump has retained at his storage facility in Florida or his other properties that should be under NARA’s custody and control consistent with the Presidential Records Act.”
The letter was sent after a judge on Friday declined to hold Trump in contempt of court for failing to comply with a May subpoena demanding he turn over all presidential documents in his possession over to the government.
Federal prosecutors had asked the court to hold Trump in contempt following the discovery of the additional documents.
Instead, Judge Beryl Howell, an appointee of former President Barak Obama, called on both sides to resolve the legal dispute themselves.
Read More: House committee calls on archivist to determine if more Trump documents are