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According to the NYT, Donald Trump left office in such a mess that he omitted to return the documents.
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The documents remained in his possession until last week’s raid by the FBI.
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Trump claimed to have declassified the documents, but many disagreed.
Former President Donald Trump was so preoccupied with settling a personal grudge that he omitted returning classified documents to the U.S. government when he left office. The New York Times reported.
The Times, citing two sources with knowledge of the situation, reported that all efforts to return the classified material had gone awry in the turbulent final days of the president’s presidency.
Sources say Trump and his chief of staff Mark Meadows are obsessed with “resolving political grievances and personal grudges” and neglecting the task of getting classified documents to the National Archives. Did.
In contrast, The Times reported that Vice President Mike Pence was focused on the task and took back records when needed.
The insider reached out to spokespeople for Trump and Meadows regarding this allegation.
After the FBI raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property on Aug. 8, the question of how Trump handled government documents during and after his presidency has come under intense scrutiny.
federal agent The search retrieved sensitive information, legal documents show.Around Washington Post reportagents acted on suspicions that Trump withheld a number of important documents from their early 2022 handover.
The final weeks of a president’s tenure are typically spent settling outstanding issues and helping prepare the next administration. Even if the opposition wins.
But after losing to Joe Biden in November 2020, Trump became the only president in U.S. history to refuse to concede defeat and spend months instead. promote unsubstantiated conspiracy theories that the election was stolenThis resistance culminated in the January 6 riots and his second impeachment.
According to The Times, there were discussions about what to do with classified information before Trump stepped down, but the issue was never resolved.
Mr Trump claimed that he had broadly declassified the information he kept at Mar-a-Lago. But former officials, including former national security adviser John Bolton and former CIA director Leon Panetta, both said this is likely not true.
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