National Archives To Consult DOJ About How To Recover 'Unlawfully Removed' Records

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Nearly two years after the administration was required to turn over a number of electronic communications from Trump White House staffers, the National Archives and Records Administration informed lawmakers that they are still missing.

In a letter sent to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform on Friday, the country's record-keeping agency stated that despite ongoing efforts by staff, they still did not have custody of certain unnamed White House officials' electronic communications.

In a letter to Oversight Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., Acting U.S. Archivist Debra Steidel Wall stated that "we do not have custody of everything we should, even though there is no easy way to establish absolute accountability."

The letter continued by stating that the National Archives would speak with the Justice Department to determine the best course of action for recovering "the records unlawfully removed."

It has been widely reported that throughout President Donald Trump's four years in office, White House staffers used personal e-mail addresses. Staff must copy or forward those messages into their official electronic messaging accounts in accordance with the Presidential Records Act, which states that such records are government property and must be preserved.

While some former officials have provided the agency with these records, the agency claims that there are still a number of records that are missing. Peter Navarro, a former Trump official, was accused by prosecutors of using at least one "non-official" email account, a ProtonMail account, to send and receive emails while serving as the president's trade adviser, and the Justice Department has already sought his records.

The legal action was taken in August just a few weeks after Navarro was charged with a crime for refusing to assist a congressional investigation into the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

The Presidential Records Act, a law passed in 1978 mandating the preservation of White House records as government property, is under the purview of the House committee. The request is the most recent development in a months-long back-and-forth between the committee looking into Trump's handling of records and the agency.

The letter was sent out on Friday, almost two months after the FBI retrieved more than 10,000 other official documents from Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, including more than 100 classified documents. A sworn certification stating that all government records had been returned was given by Trump's attorneys.

Maloney and other Democratic panel members have asked the National Archives for a briefing, but haven't gotten one because of the Justice Department's ongoing criminal investigation into the situation.