Historians having to tape together records that Trump tore up

[babylonsister]

Historians having to tape together records that Trump tore up
Implications for public record and legal proceedings after administration seized or destroyed papers, notes and other information
Sat 16 Jan 2021 22.24 EST
Last modified on Sat 16 Jan 2021 22.25 EST



The public will not see Donald Trump’s White House records for years, but there is growing concern the collection will never be complete – leaving a hole in the history of one of America’s most tumultuous presidencies.

Trump has been cavalier about the law requiring that records be preserved. He has a habit of ripping up documents before tossing them out, forcing White House workers to spend hours taping them back together.

White House staff quickly learned about Trump’s disregard for documents as they witnessed him tearing them up and discarding them. “My director came up to me and said, ‘You have to tape these together,’” said Solomon Lartey, a former White House records analyst.

The first document he taped back together was a letter from Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate, about a government shutdown. “They told [Trump] to stop doing it. He didn’t want to stop.”
If Trump looks like a fascist and acts like a fascist, then maybe he is one

Lartey said the White House chief of staff’s office told the president that the documents were considered presidential records and needed to be preserved by law. About 10 records staff ended up on Scotch tape duty, starting with Trump’s first days in the White House through at least mid-2018.

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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/17/historians-having-to-tape-together-records-that-trump-tore-up

[Ferrets are Cool]

1. More criminality.

[dalton99a]

2. The criminal regime has so much to hide

Trump’s staff also engaged in questionable practices by using private emails and messaging apps. Former White House counsel Don McGahn in February 2017 sent a memo that instructed employees not to use non-official text messaging apps or private email accounts. If they did, he said, they had to take screenshots of the material and copy it into official email accounts, which are preserved. He sent the memo back out in September 2017.

In the Trump White House “not only has record-keeping not been a priority, but we have multiple examples of it seeking to conceal or destroy that record”, said Richard Immerman, from the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations.

And now Trump’s baseless claim of widespread voter fraud – which postponed for weeks an acknowledgement of Joe Biden’s presidential victory – has delayed the transfer of documents to the National Archives and Records Administration, further heightening concern about the integrity of the records.

Lack of a complete record might also hinder investigations of Trump, from his impeachment trial and other prospective federal inquiries to investigations in the state of New York.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

4. The same media that couldn't shut up about Hillary's emails has been largely silent for 4 years.

[Mc Mike]

3. Rump: "I do whatever I wanna do, whenever I wanna do it. Always have, always will.

I don't care if there are laws that say I can't, if those laws can't stop me. Also, I'm the law and order prez, from the law and order party.'

[Denzil_DC]

5. Trump Presidential Library

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