Former President Donald Trump rebuffed the National Archives’ attempts to obtain classified documents toward the end of his presidency telling top advisors, “It’s not theirs, it’s mine,” according to The New York Times.
The two lawyers involved were Pat Cipolloneand Patrick Philbin, who were responsible for communications between Trump’s administration and the National Archives.
Cipollone later testified in the January 6 hearings supporting the argument that Trump and his allies planned to overturn the 2020 election.
Last week, the FBI executed a search warrant on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence as a part of the Justice Department’s investigation into missing classified documents. In February, the National Archives called on the Justice Department to open an investigation into whether or not Trump violated the Presidential Records Act, which requires former Presidents to turn in all documents and records from their administration, after locating 15 boxes of classified records at Mar-a-Lago. After the boxes were recovered in January, Trump said that he no longer had possession of secret documents.
The unsealed search warrant and list of items taken from Mar-a-Lago reveal that the FBI is now in possession of 11 sets of classified documents, some of which pertain to nuclear information and that Trump is under investigation for violating the Espionage Act.
