Photo: Alamy
President Donald Trump blasted the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Tuesday for its inconsistency and double standards regarding presidential record keeping.
In a statement released Tuesday through his Save America PAC, Trump noted that in 2009, NARA came under fire for its own lack of security.
“NARA lost a whole hard drive full of HIGHLY SENSITIVE information from the Clinton White House—more than 100,000 Social Security numbers and addresses, Secret Service and White House operating procedures (EXTREMELY SENSITIVE!), political records, and who knows what else,” the president said, citing a CNN article.
“They left the hard drive in an unsecured location, and didn’t realize it was gone for months—some say the data could have filled millions of books, and NARA admitted the material was ‘personally identifiable,’ impacting thousands of White House staffers, visitors, and even one of Al Gore’s daughters,” he continued.
Also noting that NARA offered a $50,000 reward just to get the hard drive back, the president wondered, “What else have they ‘lost’? How can Americans trust a system like this? There is no security at NARA. I want my documents back!”
In August, the FBI carried out an unprecedented raid on Trump’s home after receiving correspondence from NARA suggesting that the president could be keeping classified documents there.
However, as RSBN previously reported, NARA has traditionally defended former presidents and administration members who have come under scrutiny in the past for their methods of keeping and storing records.
Noting this sudden change in policy in a subsequent statement, Trump continued:
“On top of the lost ‘Clinton Hard Drive,’ there are also tapes from the George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan Administrations which were lost AFTER having been ordered preserved by a Federal Judge. Some hard drives were even ‘damaged by sloppy handling in the transfer’! The National Archivist actually gave George H.W. Bush ‘exclusive legal control over all Presidential information.’ Compare that to how unfairly and illegally the 45th President, me, has been treated!”
The president’s remarks followed the news that his legal team filed an emergency request asking the Supreme Court to intervene in the legal battle over the documents seized from his home. His attorneys requested that the court vacate an 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling, which limits what documents the appointed special master can review.
“This unwarranted stay should be vacated as it impairs substantially the ongoing, time-sensitive work of the Special Master,” Trump’s attorneys argued. “Moreover, any limit on the comprehensive and transparent review of materials seized in the extraordinary raid of a President’s home erodes public confidence in our system of justice.”
As ordered by Justice Clarence Thomas, the Justice Department will have until 5:00 p.m. ET next Tuesday, Oct. 11, to respond to Trump’s motion.