Trump Habitually Damages Presidential Documents... WP Reports "Tearing Them Up on Air Force One Floor"

Staff waited and taped damaged documents
WP "Hundreds of missing documents"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] "Former U.S. President Donald Trump tore up briefings, schedules, articles, letters, and threw them on his office desk, in the research lab trash bin, and on the floor inside Air Force One."

Reports have emerged that former President Trump habitually damaged reports and other documents during his tenure, extensively violating the Presidential Records Act. Despite attempts by former chiefs of staff and other aides to dissuade him, he reportedly had a habit of tearing documents into four pieces, and some into even smaller fragments, damaging them.

The Washington Post (WP) reported on the 6th (local time) that former President Trump habitually tore up records and discarded them. Under the Presidential Records Act, all written memos, letters, emails, faxes, and other documents created during a president’s term must be preserved and submitted to the National Archives. Usually, the papers were torn into four pieces, but some were shredded into many fragments. WP stated that he carelessly discarded these damaged documents on his office desk, in the private research lab trash bin, and on the floor inside Air Force One.

WP explained, "At least two former chiefs of staff and advisers tried to persuade him to comply with the document preservation law, but he continued this behavior."

Courtney Chartier, president of the U.S. Archivists Association, emphasized, "This is an absolute violation of the law," adding, "It cannot be said that he did not know. There is a manual in the White House regarding records maintenance."

This damaging behavior also affected the work of his aides. Multiple sources explained that when he tore up documents, aides would often wait to collect the remnants and tape them back together with transparent tape for preservation.

James Grossman, executive director of the American Historical Association, pointed out, "(Such actions) violate the law, but the problem is that the Presidential Records Act lacks effective enforcement mechanisms," adding, "For someone in a position to enforce the law, this law itself means nothing."

WP estimated, citing sources, that at least hundreds of documents that were not preserved have completely disappeared. A senior White House official during Trump’s presidency said that aides decided on their own which documents to preserve and placed many papers into bags for incineration several times.

Regarding this, Michael Cohen, former personal lawyer to Trump, said, "Former President Trump felt catharsis through tearing paper and experienced a sense of relief as if the problem had disappeared."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.