Some records taken by Trump too secret to be listed publicly
Washington — Some of the presidential records recovered from former President Donald Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago are so sensitive they may not be able to be described in forthcoming inventory reports in an unclassified way, two people familiar with the matter said Friday.
The revelation comes as Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., sent the National Archives and Records Administration a request for further information on 15 boxes of records recovered from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort last month. The Archives set Friday as its deadline for an inventory of the contents.
The Archives has publicly confirmed earlier reporting by The Washington Post that classified materials were found within the boxes and that torn-up records had been transferred to the Archives but not reconstructed by the Trump White House.
The inventory is expected to provide more information on the volume and scope of classified documents, including details on the level of classification, according to the two people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive topic. There are records at the very highest levels of classification, including some that can be viewed by only a small number of government officials, the two people said.
“There are records that only a very few have clearances” to review, one of the people told The Post. The documents are so sensitive that they may not be able to describe them in an unclassified way, and, therefore, such documents might be described broadly in a classified addendum to the inventory, according to the two people.
Maloney is requesting the additional information as a part of the congressional investigation into Trump’s handling of White House records.
In a letter to Archivist of the United States David Ferriero, Maloney asked for a “detailed description of the contents of the boxes recovered from Mar-a-Lago ... and identification of any items that are classified and the level of classification” by March 10.