Trump illegally hides his evidence in innovative ways
- On This Day In The Trump Administration
- Jun 9, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: Jun 10, 2024
June 10: On This Day In 2018
Trump was known for his unwillingness to read briefings or analyses. If he did read a note jotted on a scrap of paper, he often tore it up afterwards. OTDI 2018, Politico reported that the White House had needed to create a team of staffers to tape his torn-up documents back together. The reason? Under the Presidential Records Act, the White House is required to preserve all memos, letters, emails and papers that the president touches, sending them to the National Archives for safekeeping as historical records.
Yet again, Trump saw himself as being above the law, so he kept ignoring his obligation. A staffer on document-restoration duty described his work as like doing jigsaw puzzles.
Trump’s paper-tearing was a waste of staff talent and taxpayer money -- and, of course, it was illegal. But it also resulted in some plumbing bills. New York Times White House reporter Maggie Haberman revealed that staffers often found his toilets clogged with torn-up papers. She even offered photographic proof of how Trump maneuvered around his paper restoration team.
Trump’s increasingly-bizarre efforts to conceal his stolen documents reached a climax, of course, when the FBI raided his home in 2022, seizing boxes of papers, many of which were highly classified. Trump wrongly claimed that he had sent to them to the National Archives. The following year, Trump was indicted by a federal grand jury in Florida on national security violations.
Many of those papers were found near his toilet. Allegedly.
(Side note: Do you think this is what he did with the translator's notes from that Putin meeting? https://www.onthisdayin.info/post/January-14-2024)
Dive Deeper
Politico has the story on Trump’s paper-tearing and staff restorations
Axios publishes the Trump toilet photos
CNN has the report on the FBI in Florida
Maggie Haberman had unusual access to Donald Trump for much of his time in office. Her insights and analysis of the man are found in her book “Confidence Man,” available here on Amazon
CBS has pics of documents at Trump's home near his toilet
Summary: Trump hides the evidence in unusual ways -- he flushes it down the toilet