“The National Archives has been the focus of intense scrutiny for months, especially this week, with many people attributing political motivation to our actions,” Acting Archivist Debra Steidel Wall wrote in a memo sent to employees Wednesday. “NARA has received messages from the public accusing us of corruption and conspiracy against the former president or congratulating NARA for ‘bringing him down,’” he continued. “It is neither accurate nor welcome.” The memo was released under the Freedom of Information Act and was previously reported by the Washington Post. The National Archives had been trying to retrieve presidential records stored at Trump’s Florida home for months, dating back to last year. Officials recovered 15 boxes from Mar-a-Lago in January, including at least 700 pages of classified material, and asked the Justice Department to look into the former president’s handling of files. The investigation eventually led the FBI to execute a search warrant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence earlier this month, when agents seized 11 sets of classified documents. The Justice Department is investigating whether Trump violated the Espionage Act or two other federal laws. The investigation led to a flurry of criticism of the agencies involved from Trump and his allies, who claimed the investigation and related actions were politically motivated. Energy and Environment — California pushes to remain climate leader Balance/Sustainability — Mating dolphins form large ‘social alliances’ Wall’s memo addresses some of those criticisms, including Trump’s unsubstantiated claim on his social media platform that former President Obama “kept 33 million pages of documents, many of them classified.” The Archives shot down that claim in a statement, saying it maintains classified Obama records at a government facility outside of Obama’s control. “Our fundamental interest is always to ensure that government records are properly managed, preserved and protected to ensure access to them for the life of the republic,” Wall wrote. “This is our mission and what motivates us as we strive to maintain the public’s trust.” Wall also thanked the employees for their professionalism and integrity. “We will continue to do our job, without grace or fear, in the service of our democracy,” he wrote.
