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Non-profit organization America First Legal released online new unsealed documents allegedly showing how closely the Biden White House worked with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in connection to the classified documents case against President Donald Trump.
In a post released on Friday, America First Legal (AFL) tweeted out what appears to be a letter from an undisclosed name within the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to Counterintelligence and Export Control Section of National Security Division Chief Jay Bratt. Within the message, sent on April 4, 2022, the undisclosed (FBI) official requests access to the contents of 15 “boxes of presidential records received by” NARA in February 2022.
“In order to facilitate the review of records currently in NARA’s possession, the FBI seeks DOJ assistance to coordinate this request with NARA. Section 2205(20)(b) of Title 44 of the United States Code permits an incumbent President to seek access to presidential records otherwise restricted from public access ‘if such records contain information that is needed for the conduct of current business of the incumbents President’s office,” the letter states.
With the new documents released, the AFL claims that the Biden White House not only “blatantly violated the law” in order to advance a political agenda, but conducted their procedures in an “overtly illegal and deliberate” way.
Listing other examples, the AFL posted two internal emails from 2021, the first which was from Archivist of the United States David Ferriero to a “redacted non-governmental Gmail.” In the email sent on August 30, 2021, titled “NARA documents,” Ferriero stated, “At this point, I am assuming that they have been destroyed. In which case, I am obligated to report it to the Hill, DOJ, and the White House.”
The AFL claims that the statement from Ferriero is “patently incorrect” as he is allegedly referring to laws that only apply to federal records and not presidential.
A second email posted online from NARA General Counsel Gary Stern allegedly to White House staffer Jonathan Su, shows Stern stating that “WHCO is now ready to set up a call to discuss the Trump boxes.” The email, sent on September 30, 2021, according to the AFL is “clear political taint.”
Another FBI document from February 18, 2022, listed on the AFL’s thread, stated that Associate Deputy Attorney General David Newman “instructed” the NARA to “refer the matter to their office of the Inspector General (IG) and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI),” providing Bratt as a contact and Chief of the Public Integrity Division Corey Amundson.
Four additional documents were also listed from 2022 and 2023, showing more communications from Stern and Bratt as the FBI continued to allegedly request the NARA’s assistance within the records.
Trump was charged in the summer of 2023 with a total of 40 counts, including alleged violations of the Espionage Act, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and false statements given to investigators, according to CBS News. While Trump and his legal team have since denied the allegations, a federal judge in Florida denied a motion from the 45th president to dismiss the charges at the beginning of April, NPR reported.
Prosecutors have pushed for the trial to begin by the summer, and Trump’s team advocates for it to begin after the general elections in November. However, presiding Judge Aileen Cannon has yet to determine a trial schedule.