In late 2021 — after nearly a year of attempts from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to obtain government records Donald Trump had improperly removed from the White House — the former president told his advisers that he would return the records in exchange for documents relating to the Russia investigation.
Trump, “still determined to show he had been wronged by the FBI investigation into his 2016 campaign’s ties to Russia,” suggested to his aides that they bargain for materials related to the inquiry by offering NARA the White House records he was keeping at his estate, according to reporting from The New York Times.
For years, Trump has denounced the Russia investigation, which was led by former special counsel Robert Mueller and sought to determine whether or not Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election on his behalf.
Trump reportedly wanted documents from the Russia investigation because he believed NARA had previously refused to disclose documents that would back up his unsubstantiated claims regarding the inquiry.
The former president has frequently stated that the Russia investigation “exonerated” him of any wrongdoing. However, Mueller has stated otherwise, noting that many of Trump’s actions could constitute obstruction of justice in the eyes of federal prosecutors .
Trump’s aides ultimately rejected the proposal to bargain for the documents. Later that year, Trump relented and agreed to allow NARA to retrieve some documents from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida — but only after the agency threatened to get Congress involved.
When NARA examined the documents it retrieved in early 2022, officials noticed that many were marked as classified, prompting them to reach out to the Department of Justice (DOJ). In June 2022, the DOJ subpoenaed Trump to return additional documents marked as classified, and had his legal counsel sign an affidavit affirming that no more documents were on the property.
After evidence surfaced showing that additional classified documents remained at Mar-a-Lago, the FBI executed a search warrant in August, recovering more than 100 classified materials and more than 11,000 government documents. In all, the federal government has retrieved more than 300 classified documents from Trump’s property since the start of the year.
It’s unclear if additional White House documents remain in Trump’s possession.
“While there is no easy way to establish absolute accountability, we do know that we do not have custody of everything we should,” acting archivist Debra Steidel Wall said in a letter to the House Oversight Committee earlier this month.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.