The National Archives is pushing back on the Republican insinuation that its decision to refer former President Trump’s mishandling of White House records to the Justice Department was sparked by a probe from House Democrats.
In a Tuesday letter in response to a query from Republicans on the House Oversight and Reform Committee, acting Archivist Debra Steidel Wall said, “there was, in fact, no connection between these two actions.”
Oversight Committee Democrats sent a letter to Archives on Feb. 9 announcing their probe, just a few days after a Washington Post story detailing that the agency had recovered documents from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in late January.
That same day, Archives’ Office of Inspector General, after consulting with Archives leaders, referred the matter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) after noting the boxes included multiple sets of classified records.
The timing, Wall said, was “entirely coincidental.”
“At no time and under no circumstances were NARA officials pressured or influenced by Committee Democrats or anyone else,” Wall wrote, using an abbreviation for Archives.
“NARA has at all times acted professionally and without regard to any political or partisan influence with respect to this matter. Our actions were for the simple purpose of carrying out our core mission of ensuring that NARA has all Presidential records of former Presidents in our custody and control, as required by the Presidential Records Act, and our responsibilities regarding classified national security information.”
An Oct. 14 letter form House Oversight ranking member Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) had asked for all communications between Archives and DOJ on the matter.
“The fact that NARA transmitted to DOJ a referral that launched a criminal investigation of the former president the same day the Democrat Chairwoman of the Committee inquired whether the agency had been in contact with DOJ raises serious concerns about whether NARA made the referral after pressure from Committee Democrats,” he wrote.
House Oversight Republicans declined to comment on Archives’ latest letter.