National Archives receives Trump records that were ripped apart, taped back together: report

Some of the Trump White House documents that were handed over to the House Select Committee on Jan. 6 by the National Archives and Records Administration were reportedly torn up and taped back together.

Three sources familiar with the records told The Washington Post about the state of the administration documents, which the National Archives confirmed to the newspaper. 

In a statement to The Post, the National Archives said that documents turned over from the Trump White House “included paper records that had been torn up by former President Trump.”

“White House records management officials during the Trump Administration recovered and taped together some of the torn-up records,” said the agency. “These were turned over to the National Archives at the end of the Trump Administration, along with a number of torn-up records that had not been reconstructed by the White House. The Presidential Records Act requires that all records created by presidents be turned over to the National Archives at the end of their administrations.”

The Hill has reached out to the National Archives and the Jan. 6 Select Committee for further comment on the documents.

Former President Trump had sued to stop the committee from being given certain documents, with his attorney claiming it was illegal and that Trump wanted to preserve privileges over certain documents.

However, earlier this month the archives turned over more than 700 documents that Trump had sought to block.

“On the evening of January 20 the National Archives and Records Administration provided the Select Committee with all the records at issue in the litigation,” the agency said at the time.