In early 2022, Donald Trump asked one of his lawyers to tell the National Archives that the documents removed from the White House had all been returned. The Washington Post reveals it exclusively, citing people close to the story.
The lawyer refused because, according to sources, he was not convinced that it was the truth. Indeed, the FBI raid on the tycoon’s residence in Mar-a-Lago revealed that thousands of papers, including hundreds classified as top secret, had not been returned by the former president.
Trump’s attorney, Alex Cannon, had played the role of mediator between the former president and the Archives which for over a year had been trying to get back the original presidential documents, as required by law.
Finally, after months of filibustering by the tycoon’s lawyers, 15 boxes of cards that had been brought to Florida were returned in January of this year.
Sources say it was Trump himself who packed the documents. Then, the former president asked Cannon to report to the Archives that “everything they asked for” had been returned. But the lawyer, a former Trump Organization lawyer who also worked for the campaign and for the tycoon once elected, objected, saying he wasn’t sure if there were other cards in the Mar-a-Lago resort.