Politics Trump - What has he done now???

rogue49 · Feb 5, 2022

‘He never stopped ripping things up’: Inside Trump’s relentless document destruction habits
Trump’s shredding of paper in the White House was far more widespread and indiscriminate than previously known and — despite multiple admonishments — extended throughout his presidency.

By Ashley Parker, Josh Dawsey, Tom Hamburger and Jacqueline Alemany
Today at 4:09 p.m. EST

President Donald Trump tore up briefings and schedules, articles and letters, memos both sensitive and mundane.

He ripped paper into quarters with two big, clean strokes — or occasionally more vigorously, into smaller scraps.

He left the detritus on his desk in the Oval Office, in the trash can of his private West Wing study and on the floor aboard Air Force One, among many other places.

And he did it all in violation of the Presidential Records Act, despite being urged by at least two chiefs of staff and the White House counsel to follow the law on preserving documents.

“It is absolutely a violation of the act,” said Courtney Chartier, president of the Society of American Archivists. “There is no ignorance of these laws. There are White House manuals about the maintenance of these records.”

Although glimpses of Trump’s penchant for ripping were reported earlier in his presidency — by Politico in 2018 — the House select committee’s investigation into the Jan. 6 insurrection has shined a new spotlight on the practice. The Washington Post reported that some of the White House records the National Archives and Records Administration turned over to the committee appeared to have been torn apart and then taped back together.

Interviews with 11 former Trump staffers, associates and others familiar with the habit reveal that Trump’s shredding of paper was far more widespread and indiscriminate than previously known and — despite multiple admonishments — extended throughout his presidency, resulting in special practices to deal with the torn fragments. Most of these people spoke on the condition of anonymity to share candid details of a problematic practice.

The ripping was so relentless that Trump’s team implemented protocols to try to ensure that he was abiding by the Presidential Records Act. Typically, aides from either the Office of the Staff Secretary or the Oval Office Operations team would come in behind Trump to retrieve the piles of torn paper he left in his wake, according to one person familiar with the routine. Then, staffers from the White House Office of Records Management were generally responsible for jigsawing the documents back together, using clear tape.

The Presidential Records Act requires that the White House preserve all written communication related to a president’s official duties — memos, letters, notes, emails, faxes and other material — and turn it over to the National Archives.

Some records sent to Jan. 6 were torn up, taped back together — mirroring a Trump habit

Typically, the White House records office makes decisions on archival vs. non-archival materials, according to an Archives official. The Presidential Records Act lays out a process allowing a president to dispose of records only after obtaining the assent of records officials.

It is unclear how many records were lost or permanently destroyed through Trump’s ripping routine, as well as what consequences, if any, he might face. Hundreds of documents, if not more, were likely torn up, those familiar with the practice say.

“It is against the law, but the problem is that the Presidential Records Act, as written, does not have any real enforcement mechanism,” said James Grossman, executive director of the American Historical Association. “It’s that sort of thing where there’s a law, but who has the authority to enforce the law, and the existing law is toothless.”

One person familiar with the National Archives process said that staff there were stunned at how many papers they received from the Trump administration that were ripped, and described it internally as “unprecedented.”

One senior Trump White House official said he and other White House staffers frequently put documents into “burn bags” to be destroyed, rather than preserving them, and would decide themselves what should be saved and what should be burned. When the Jan. 6 committee asked for certain documents related to Trump’s efforts to pressure Vice President Mike Pence, for example, some of them no longer existed in this person’s files because they had already been shredded, said someone familiar with the request.

Early in the administration, the torn paper became such a problem that the administration officials responsible for records management went to then-White House counsel Donald McGahn and then-deputy White House counsel Stefan Passantino, who handled ethics issues, to urge them to remind Trump and other senior West Wing staff about the importance of preserving documents to comply with the records act.

A former senior administration official said Trump was warned about the records act by McGahn, as well as his first two chiefs of staff, Reince Priebus and John F. Kelly, who lamented to allies that Trump would “rip up everything,” according to a person who heard his comments. Passantino also warned other aides about preserving documents.

Passantino declined to comment. McGahn did not respond to requests for comment.

A Trump spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

Priebus urged aides not to put what he called “crazy” documents on Trump’s desk — articles, for instance, from far-right websites spouting conspiracy theories, according to a person with direct knowledge of his request. He told others that Trump would read them and sometimes tear them up.

“He didn’t want a record of anything,” a former senior Trump official said. “He never stopped ripping things up. Do you really think Trump is going to care about the records act? Come on.”

Problems with records preservation persisted throughout Trump’s term and became particularly acute at the time of the transition to the Biden administration.

Other administrations have also run afoul of the Presidential Records Act. White House aides in both Democratic and Republican administrations, for example, have long used personal devices to text with reporters as well as other staff, rather than government-issued devices, while others have been caught using personal email for official work.

But people familiar with Trump’s conduct said it ran far deeper than occasionally skirting up against the boundaries of the law.

“The biggest takeaway I have from that behavior is it reflects a conviction that he was above the law,” said presidential historian Lindsay Chervinsky. “He did not see himself bound by those things.”

Former aides said Trump was haphazard in what he ripped, often tearing up papers that were not classified or even particularly sensitive. Some said they viewed it more as a quirk and not a deliberate attempt to avoid public scrutiny, in part because he was so indiscriminate with what he tore.

While he occasionally left tiny scraps, three people who watched him described a regular process — he would tear a sheet of paper in half once, and then rip it once more into quarters.

“I have seen Trump tear up papers, not into small, small pieces, but usually twice — so take a piece of paper, rip it once, and then rip it again and then throw it into the garbage pail,” said Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer who in 2018 pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations as well as lying to Congress.

The habit dates back to the former president’s time as a businessman, when he used email extremely rarely. Cohen said that Trump seemed to enjoy the actual process of ripping paper, especially if he did not like the contents of the memo.

“When something irritated him, he would tear the document,” Cohen said. “The physical act of ripping the paper for Donald was cathartic, and it provided him a relief, as if the issue was no longer relevant. Basically, you rip the piece of paper and you’re done — that’s how Donald’s brain works.”

Books, speeches, hats for sale: The Trumps try to make money the pre-presidency way

The practice continued into the White House. Aides jokingly referred to “The Boxes” — large boxes filled with reams of paper that Trump often traveled with. Two people familiar with the boxes said they contained a true miscellany of paper — physical newspapers, articles, memos, briefing books, a media summary from the day including printed screenshots of cable news headlines — and that Trump would often rifle through them on long flights.

Sometimes he would read something and sign it in his signature Sharpie, placing it in a folder to be sent to a certain recipient, one of these people said. Other times, he would rip the paper once he was done and toss it on the floor.

This person added that they once saw Trump tear up a piece of paper and then slip it into the pocket of his suit jacket.

Trump’s troubling habit became the focus of internal concern early in his administration, one former Trump official said, when records personnel noticed that a range of official documents logged as going to the Oval Office or the White House residence were not being returned to be filed in accordance with White House record-keeping rules.

When staffers first started going to look for these missing records — which spanned a range of topics, including conversations with foreign leaders — they sometimes found them in a pile of ripped paper in the Oval Office or the White House residence.

But on other occasions, torn documents were found in classified burn bags, which are used to dispose of documents, according to one former Trump White House official. Records personnel would routinely dump the contents of burn bags on a table and try to puzzle out which of the torn documents needed to be taped together and preserved, the former official said.

Burn bags, which resemble paper grocery bags, are available throughout the White House complex. There are two types, for classified and unclassified material, and different requirements for each in determining what can be destroyed, experts said. The classified bags are marked with diagonal red stripes.

Both types of bags are ultimately destroyed, but the mechanism for how they are destroyed and safeguarded is different. There were regular “burn runs,” in which classified bags would be collected from offices and sent to the Pentagon for incineration.

Grossman said that Trump’s chaotic approach to handling physical documents leaves gaping holes in the historical record, not to mention being disrespectful to the archivists and general public.

“We don’t know how much of it was or was not successfully taped back together,” Grossman said. “Also, how much did the taxpayers pay to have a bunch of highly qualified archivists sit at a desk and tape things back together?”

Some experts also said Trump hurt his own legacy with his document destruction practices — leaving less behind for historians to examine.

“For a president to just wantonly tear things up is just a little shocking, that there’s not even a little egotistical thought about legacy,” Chartier said.
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Does this surprise anyone at all???
The man is a egomaniac...doesn't care about the law. Only what he can get away with.

Good they're starting to actually document the issues.
Just one more thing to add onto the pile...of laws he broke.
It concerns me that the burn bags were used.
But then again, ANY administration could do this.

Frankly, I don't think burn bags should be available inside the WH.
It should be given to a special Archives group, to determine what is burned.
Too easy to "slip up" for anyone.
Don't want to make it easier on them.

Just one more thing...

rogue49 · Feb 7, 2022

National Archives had to retrieve Trump White House records from Mar-a-Lago — The Washington Post

And just one more thing…

At Mar-A-Lago too

God knows where else they had paperwork
And other confidential records

Trump Tower?
Trump hotels?
Internationally? He’s got property overseas too.

ASU2003 · Feb 10, 2022

How it started:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGChTEfeeC4

How it's going:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2h7HA03Ho4

rogue49 · Feb 10, 2022

Flush him down the toilet!
Piece of shit.

rogue49 · Feb 13, 2022

Trump's unorthodox phone habits complicate January 6 investigation - CNNPolitics

Again...are you surprised???
Anyone watching this cascading clusterfuck...could figure out that he would do this.
Rules??? We don't need no stinking rules. (he'd say)

Follow it all...bust through the doors...the money, the records, the legal blockades, get it all.
The man and his cronies are like cockroaches. (with seedy lawyers all)
It's all one use swamp soaked jigsaw puzzle.

Chris Noyb · Feb 13, 2022

rogue49 said: ↑

Trump's unorthodox phone habits complicate January 6 investigation - CNNPolitics

Again...are you surprised???
Anyone watching this cascading clusterfuck...could figure out that he would do this.
Rules??? We don't need no stinking rules. (he'd say)

Follow it all...bust through the doors...the money, the records, the legal blockades, get it all.
The man and his cronies are like cockroaches. (with seedy lawyers all)
It's all one use swamp soaked jigsaw puzzle.
Click to expand...

NPD Trump was impulsive, but not to the point of being totally stupid.

rogue49 · Feb 14, 2022

Donald Trump's accountants quit — in the midst of preparing his and Melania's taxes — after questioning 'discrepancies'

Trump accounting firm recants a decade of his financial statements

Trump’s Longtime Accountants Just Threw Him Under the Bus

Awww...only the best...
Except for when "the best" turn on you.

Frankly, what does this say about out IRS auditors, who couldn't find all this?
Even after a HOW LONG audit???

Trump said the three prosecutors are “vicious, horrible people, they’re racists and they’re very sick, they’re mentally sick.” He also called for “the biggest protest we have ever had in Washington, D.C., in New York, in Atlanta, and elsewhere” if “these radical racist vicious prosecutors do anything wrong or illegal.”
Click to expand...

Hmm...see a pattern here???
Yet another riot instigated by Mr. T in the near future?
All because he doesn't like being held by the law on things he doesn't want...

boink · Feb 17, 2022

Ya I saw that when it came out.
How is it that he constantly blames others for being exactly what he really is ?
Racist, horrible, mentally sick, life long grifter con man ?
How is it that people fall for his con game lies ? How is he able to find so many people to help him ?
How could Rudy ever think he wouldn't be thrown under the bus in a heartbeat ?
On the trump bus all the seating is under the wheels.

rogue49 · Feb 18, 2022

View: https://twitter.com/colbertlateshow/status/1494500371846287367?s=21

Y’know, it’s likely just as good for T as Rudy.

boink · Feb 19, 2022

That was pretty good.

boink · Feb 23, 2022

Top prosecutors in Manhattan DA's inquiry into Trump resign

I think we're looking at death threats from trump's international cadre of baby eating child molesting swap creatures.

Wouldn't be totally surprised if this continues

rogue49 · Feb 23, 2022

boink said: ↑

Top prosecutors in Manhattan DA's inquiry into Trump resign

I think we're looking at death threats from trump's international cadre of baby eating child molesting swap creatures.

Wouldn't be totally surprised if this continues
Click to expand...

Same intimidation tactics as mobsters and gangbangers.
It takes certain people to stand tall against the fear. (and $$$)

ASU2003 · Feb 23, 2022

There are still three other cases against him and his family that are also underway. The SDNY case, the GA "find 11,870 votes" case, and the Jan 6th inquiry. Although they need to hurry up and get done by August when the "election season" really gets underway.

Has he filed the paperwork to run in 2024 yet? I would think that trying to be a political candidate would make it harder to go after him, as it is possibly interfering with elections having him testify and stuff.

Chris Noyb · Feb 24, 2022

boink said: ↑

Top prosecutors in Manhattan DA's inquiry into Trump resign

I think we're looking at death threats from trump's international cadre of baby eating child molesting swap creatures.

Wouldn't be totally surprised if this continues
Click to expand...

I want to know what Alvin Bragg actually said, under what circumstances. Of all the charges against NPD Trump, I would think fraud through creative accounting would be easy to prove (of course actually tieing it to The Orange One could be tricky).

boink · Feb 24, 2022

Agree.
I can also see a reasonable person bailing out due to death threats from the world of trumps deplorables.
You know like the health industry, all the state voting administration people, school administration etc all under fire from nut jobs who's chains trump has been yanking every day for 5 years.
Or the other ass wipes like Alex Jones who's been at it what 2 decades now ? If your career choice is lighting firecrackers, some are gonna blow up.

I don't know...I won't be surprised if the RNC makes trump the next candidate for president again with zero platform aside from white christian male grievance and won't be surprised if he wins again.
Who's gonna run agents him ?
The only way trump won't run is if he's in jail or has a heart attack and dies.
And if it's jail, we'll have something that looks like an idiots virsion of civil war.

rogue49 · Mar 2, 2022

https://www.citizensforethics.org/r...medium=website&utm_content=link&ICID=ref_fark

Friggin' statute of limitations...
This crap is WAY too short for the snails pace of the Federal government, DOJ and court system.
The House panel alone has taken up a year for what's informal investigations with no real bite.
And the DOJ which seems to be acting like the groundhog that saw its shadow.

Do ya really want to let criminals go?
You should be able to extend it, if there's an active investigation or it's reopened.
For REAL criminal activity, not for abused ploys. (I know...T's side is claiming it's all a political witchhunt )

Damn, can't there be justice?
This shit can't linger longer. ACT!

boink · Mar 2, 2022

Between fear of trump, fear of his psychopaths, rich and poor, nobody has balls enough to do the right thing but -absurdly- Pence.

Funny how the right, the first and loudest crying patriotism at every turn is willing to throw America and democracy under the bus for the most overt out and proud grifter, gangster, psychopath ever in 'merican history.
A man who opened the door wide for such total confusion it's cost the country 800,000 human lives and counting. All just to fend off bad press.

It's shocking but at the same time for me, I've never thought trump had a limit to his selfish cruelty. If he wasn't so ignorant he could be Hitler easily. With all the scum attracted to him, anxious to float their xenophobia, their greed and insatiable need for power, he can enable pretty much any horrors one could imagine.

Our only hope is the fat and salt of McDonald's and the potential dangerous side effects of Viagra.

The courts and justice system needs a heapin' helpin' of legal castor oil.

boink · Mar 2, 2022

But Hillary's emails !!!

Chris Noyb · Mar 3, 2022

I wonder how history, esp as it's taught to to students old enough to understand politics, will describe the NPD Trump presidency and the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election.

In Texas our public school textbooks are filtered through the Texas Education Board, which is historically very conservative. Publishers pretty much do what the TEB says because contracts with school districts in Texas are lucrative. I can see sanitized versions being taught to our students. Hell, we don't even teach the impressionable snowflakes that Mexico had every legal right to use military force in the Texas rebellion.

rogue49 · Mar 3, 2022

Chris Noyb said: ↑

I wonder how history, esp as it's taught to to students old enough to understand politics, will describe the NPD Trump presidency and the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election.

In Texas our public school textbooks are filtered through the Texas Education Board, which is historically very conservative. Publishers pretty much do what the TEB says because contracts with school districts in Texas are lucrative. I can see sanitized versions being taught to our students. Hell, we don't even teach the impressionable snowflakes that Mexico had every legal right to use military force in the Texas rebellion.
Click to expand...

Makes me wonder how the past really was...if attacking another congressman with a cane was the only thing noted...makes wonder what chaos it was in reality.
No wonder they went to war. The story is just the tip of the iceberg. And we're living in truly civilized times despite the stupid and insane.

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