UNITED STATES: HOW DONALD TRUMP ATTEMPTED TO CLEAR HIS ARCHIVES
Three days before the inauguration of the 46th President of the United States Joe Biden, uncertainty still hangs over the attitude that Donald Trump will adopt when leaving the White House.
Archives specialists are worried for another reason: the billionaire has been unscrupulous with the preservation of presidential documents, in defiance of the law.
If the Guardian specifies that the general public will not have access to these archives for five years, historians are worried that a "gaping hole" is discovered instead of its archives. While he is however legally obliged to keep traces, the thundering president has regularly applied to try to make them disappear.
COLLECTED DOCUMENTS
Members of his staff say they saw him tear up and throw away documents, which they had to piece together and glue back together.
Solomon Lartey, a former White House archivist recounts that he had to pick up a letter from Chris Schumer, leader of the Democratic Party in the Senate, about a tense political situation (during the shutdown, the stopping of government activities, editor's note). “The staff were telling him to stop (destroying the documents). He didn't want to, ”he says. At least ten documents should have been glued from 2016 to mid-2018.
A LACK OF TRANSPARENCY WITH RUSSIA
Even more worrying, the president would have confiscated the notes of the interpreter who would have translated an exchange with Vladimir Putin, during which the interference of Russia in the campaign would have been evoked. Donald Trump is also said to have reprimanded his lawyer for taking notes during a meeting on the Russia-related investigation.
Senior officials have had to be called to order after using their private emails and phones to conduct official conversations. Former White House lawyer Don McGahn has repeatedly sent a memo to the teams.
Two historical associations, the National Security Archives and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, have launched legal proceedings to prevent him from destroying emails or official messages exchanged on private accounts.
Donald Trump's accusations of electoral misconduct further postponed the transfer of presidential documents to the National Archives, scheduled for January 20. The Biden administration will be able to consult the archives as soon as he comes to power, but doubts remain about the preservation of documents related to impeachment proceedings and investigations against Donald Trump.
