National Archives confirms some documents retrieved from Mar-a-Lago were classified

Fifteen boxes of records were retrieved from Trump's Florida resort last month.

February 18, 2022, 4:01 PM

The National Archives and Record Administration (NARA) confirmed on Friday that some of the Trump White House documents recently recovered from Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort were marked classified, and that the agency had referred the matter to the Justice Department.

In a letter sent Friday to Rep. Carolyn Maloney, chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, National Archives officials said that among the 15 boxes of records retrieved last month from former President Donald Trump's Florida resort were "items marked as classified national security information within the boxes."

As a result, the National Archives staff "has been in communication with the Department of Justice," David Ferriero, the national archivist, wrote in the letter.

In addition, the letter said that "NARA has identified certain social media records that were not captured and preserved by the Trump Administration."

PHOTO: President Donald Trump holds up papers as he speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, April 20, 2020, in Washington.
President Donald Trump holds up papers as he speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, April 20, 2020, in Washington.
Alex Brandon/AP, FILE

Trump White House staff also "conducted official business using non-official electronic messaging accounts that were not copied or forwarded into their official electronic messaging accounts," according to the letter.

The National Archives said that it has already "obtained or is in the process of obtaining some of those records."

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