Classified documents were found in boxes at Mar-a-Lago after Trump left office

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National Archives acknowledges classified documents were found in boxes at Mar-a-Lago after Trump left office​

By Katelyn Polantz, CNN Reporter, Crime and Justice
February 18, 2022

(CNN)...........................The National Archives acknowledged Friday it has discussed with the Department of Justice that classified records were found in boxes at Mar-a-Lago after former President Donald Trump left office, according to a letter from Archivist David Ferriero to the House Oversight Committee.

The letter, released by the Archives Friday, also provided more detail on reports that Trump tore up records after being warned not to while he was President.

The Archives arranged for the transport of about 15 boxes of records from Trump's Florida resort last month after the agency sought them from the former President's team.

"NARA has identified items marked as classified national security information within the boxes," Ferriero wrote, responding to a question from the House. "Because NARA identified classified information in the boxes, NARA staff has been in communication with the Department of Justice."

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Archives, which maintains executive branch records after a president leaves office, said in the Friday letter that it is "in the process of inventorying the contents of the boxes." That process is expected to be complete by February 25, Ferriero wrote.

The Archives also has asked Trump's representatives to search for additional records that may be missing from the government's collection, according to the letter.

In 2018, the Archives had asked a lawyer at the White House for more information about media reports at the time that Trump was tearing up documents, and that White House staff would tape them back together.

But the problem continued, the Archives told the House committee on Friday.

"The White House Counsel's Office indicated that they would address the matter," Ferriero wrote. "After the end of the Trump Administration, NARA learned that additional paper records that had been torn up by former President Trump were included in the records transferred to us. Although White House staff during the Trump Administration recovered and taped together some of the torn-up records, a number of other torn-up records that were transferred had not been reconstructed by the White House."