A former White House aide told the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack that he saw former President Trump tearing up documents, according to audio files of his deposition obtained by CBS News.
“Did the president tear up notes when he was finished with them?” Jan. 6 counsel Dan George asked former aide Nick Luna, per a transcript of the deposition.
“Yes. I mean, at times. I don’t know. Did I ever see him tear up notes? I don’t know what the documents were, but there [was] tearing,” Luna said.
Pressed further on whether he’d seen the president “at least sometimes” tear up papers when he was finished with them, Luna replied, “Yes, sir, that’s correct.”
The Presidential Records Act requires that any documents and materials related to the president’s political activities be carefully preserved and turned over to the National Archives at the end of the administration. Removing, destroying or tampering with the records can come with significant penalties.
The audio comes amid a probe into Trump’s handling of presidential records during and after his presidency, after the FBI earlier this year seized classified documents from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.
Luna served as Trump’s personal assistant — his “body man” — during his tenure in the White House and was reportedly with the former president on Jan. 6 as he took a phone call with then-Vice President Mike Pence from the Oval Office.
The Jan. 6 panel subpoenaed Luna for his close proximity to Trump surrounding Jan. 6 and his reported presence during the Pence call, during which Trump allegedly pressured the vice president to resist certifying the 2020 presidential election results.
Luna appeared before the Jan. 6 committee earlier this year.