Source: Politics
Former President Donald Trump on Thursday denied a new report that he may have flushed official documents down a White House toilet while in office, rejecting the latest accusation of mishandling of presidential records.
According to a forthcoming book by New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, staff in the White House residence periodically found that pieces of paper had clogged a toilet, leading staff to believe Trump attempted to flush documents he had ripped. The details from Haberman’s book were first reported by Axios.
In a statement, Trump referred to the allegations as “another fake story,” calling them “categorically untrue and simply made up by a reporter in order to get publicity for a mostly fictitious book.”
Trump has long shown a disregard for the preservation of presidential records. In 2018, POLITICO reported on his habit of tearing up papers after he was done with them, as well as the efforts of government officials tasked with taping together the remains of the documents.
But Trump’s treatment of records from his presidency has come under greater scrutiny in recent days. The National Archives and Records Administration confirmed on Monday that it retrieved 15 boxes of documents and other items from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate last month that belong to federal record-keepers.
On Wednesday, The Washington Post reported that the National Archives asked the Justice Department to examine Trump’s handling of presidential records, suspecting he had possibly violated laws concerning the handling of government documents.