Former President Donald Trump would rip up documents and throw them on the floor after reading them, a former White House valet told the January 6 House committee.
His testimony points to possible document destruction by Trump when he was still president. It is illegal under the Presidential Records Act for a president to destroy official records as the form part of the national archive. Trump is already awaiting trial on charges of hoarding presidential documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
In newly released and heavily redacted testimony, the employee told the committee on June 10, 2022, that Trump habitually destroyed documents after reading them. When a committee member asked: “Do you remember the president ever tearing up or destroying documents that he had seen?” the employee replied: “That’s typically what he would do once he’s finished with a document. He would tear everything, tear newspapers, tear photos.”
He added: “He liked to look at pictures and he would just tear it once he’s done looking at it and just throw it on the floor.”
That’s not at all what I was saying. I have no problem with the notion of them printing out stuff on paper for the president to read. The thing that doesn’t make sense to me is why they can’t just print two copies so he can rip one up and they’ll still have the other to archive (or why they can’t just archive the electronic copy, or whatever).
Two reasons spring to mind.
First, some documents really are that sensitive. There are moments when nobody outside of the situation room would have clearance to handle documents that are being actively used in a crisis. Routine stuff gets copies made all the time, but the really sensitive stuff tends to go directly to the resolute desk with barely a moment to spare. The book Secrets by Daniel Ellsberg gives a pretty interesting look into how briefings are made and delivered.
Second, there are a large number of messages given to the president via handwritten notes. Sometimes the president responds to a note with another note. These are the kinds of documents that Trump could do the most damage by destroying because they are the only record of communication between the president and another person.
There has just never been a president brazen enough to rip up documents in this manner before. It is moments like these when the Justice department is supposed to step in and enforce the rule of law, and it is entirely to discourage malicious actors like this.
All have to be archived and accounted for.