The New York Times reported that Trump floated the idea of trading Mar-a-Lago boxes for documents.
The proposal was not pitched to the National Archives.
The agency wanted Trump to turn over the boxes.
The New York Times reported that Donald Trump floated the idea of exchanging files from the White House to Mar-a-Lago in exchange for information about the FBI investigation of his campaign's ties to Russia.
As the National Archives pressed Trump to return the scores of official documents that were being stored at his Mar-a-Lago estate in South Florida and not in their possession, the former president was frustrated by the government agency's refusal to reveal documents that
The boxes of materials that were stored at Mar-a-Lago were given to the archives by Trump.
The files in the residence area of the historic building became an impediment to locating after Trump entered the White House, due to concerns about the president's tendency to bring documents to his bedroom.
During Trump's third year in office, top White House officials were aware of certain files being in places where they weren't intended to be stored.
The National Archives told Trump's representatives to get the files back in the boxes.
Three attorneys who had worked in the White House Counsel's Office, along with a former White House chief of staff, were involved in discussions about the files.
Trump toldMeadows that they held only newspaper clips and personal items, despite the fact that the boxes were missing.
The former White House lawyer gave the message to the radio host.
Newspaper clippings and article printouts were considered to be presidential records by the archives.
According to The Times, Eric Herschmann, an advisor to the White House, told Trump that he could be in serious legal trouble if he didn't give the documents to the archives.
The former president agreed to go through the files in December of 2021. The boxes were ready to be taken away.
According to The Times, no one from Trump's team told him that there were classified files inside the boxes.
When the archives opened the boxes, they realized they were viewing the files in a room that wasn't suitable for such high-level documents, so they quickly moved the boxes to more secure areas.
In August, the FBI executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago in order to look for classified documents that Trump may have taken after leaving office. The Espionage Act is one of the laws being investigated by the Department of Justice.
Trump has been fixated on the Department of Justice's investigation into campaign ties to Russia leading up to his first presidential election, calling it a "hoax" that was intended to damage his presidency.
Business Insider has an article on it.
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