The National Archives and Records Administration waited until May 12 to give the FBI access to top-secret documents recovered from former President Donald Trump in January, despite “urgent” requests from the Justice Department for the materials, according to a letter from the National Archives. Archivist Debra Wall. released late Monday by conservative reporter John Solomon, one of Trump’s two authorized NARA liaisons. The May 10 letter to Trump’s lawyers also confirms that the National Archives found more than 700 pages of classified documents, including “Special Access Program materials” — among the most classified secrets in the government — among the 15 boxes recovered by Mar- a- Trump’s Lago Complex. More classified material was obtained from Mar-a-Lago by the FBI in June and August. Much of the letter covers Wall’s rejection of a request by Trump’s lawyers to shield the documents from the FBI on grounds of executive privilege. White House counsel said President Biden is “looking forward to my determination,” Wall wrote, and after discussions with the Office of Legal Counsel, “the question in this case is not narrow.” “The executive branch here is seeking access to records that belong to and are in the custody of the federal government itself,” Wall wrote, “not only to investigate whether those records were mishandled, but also, as the National Security Directorate explained that “to carry out an assessment of the possible damage resulting from the obvious way of storing and transporting these materials and to take the necessary remedial measures”. The letter released by Trump’s team is “extremely damning of Trump,” and his team, Politico’s Kyle Cheney marveled on Twitter. “Trump’s allies have pointed to this letter as some kind of evidence of meddling by the Biden White House,” but “what it shows is that officials are extremely concerned about harm to national security based on the records in Trump’s possession.” The story continues The NARA letter “condemns” Trump “on any number of levels,” including the “lack of any reference to a claim by Trump representatives that he had declassified any of the classified material,” adds University of Texas law professor Steve Vladek. “It’s also telling that, while this letter really hurts Trump’s version of events, it was not released by the Biden administration or NARA. It was released by the Trump team itself – both a self-inflicted wound and further proof of how the government is playing by the rules.”
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