The National Archives and Records Administration responded to a claim made by former President Donald Trump that former President Barack Obama had taken 30 million pages of records with him when he left the White House.
Trump made the claim after the FBI raided his Palm Beach, Florida, residence, Mar-a-Lago, on Monday, acting on a search warrant.
Before the warrant was released on Friday, Trump argued that the FBI had no basis for the raid and implied that Obama had done far worse after his time in office.
“What happened to the 30 million pages of documents taken from the White House to Chicago by Barack Hussein Obama?” wrote Trump. “He refused to give them back! What is going on? This act was strongly at odds with NARA. Will they be breaking into Obama’s ‘mansion’ in Martha’s Vineyard?”
A National Archives statement contested Trump’s claims.
“NARA moved approximately 30 million pages of unclassified records to a NARA facility in the Chicago area where they are maintained exclusively by NARA,” the archives wrote.
“Additionally, NARA maintains the classified Obama Presidential records in a NARA facility in the Washington, DC, area,” the statement continued. “As required by the PRA, former President Obama has no control over where and how NARA stores the Presidential records of his Administration.”
A U.S. federal judge unsealed the warrant and revealed what the FBI took from the Trump residence. The list of items taken includes 11 sets of classified documents, and several documents listed as “top secret.” The warrant also indicated that Trump was being investigated for a potential violation of the Espionage Act.
Trump’s estate was searched on Monday morning, which the former president confirmed in a statement he released later in the day. Supporters of the president have argued that the FBI’s intention behind the raid was politically motivated, while his critics argued the search was necessary.
After criticism about the raid, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland admitted on Thursday that he had personally signed off on the search warrant and said that the Department of Justice would ask a federal judge to unseal the order.
The former president then released a statement on Truth Social declaring that he would not fight the unsealing of the search warrant but would actively seek for it to be unsealed, writing, “Not only will I not oppose the release of documents related to the unAmerican, unwarranted, and unnecessary raid and break-in of my home in Palm Beach, Florida, Mar-a-Lago, I am going a step further by ENCOURAGING the immediate release of those documents, even though they have been drawn up by radical left Democrats and possible future political opponents, who have a strong and powerful vested interest in attacking me, much as they have done for the last 6 years.”
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