Donald Trump is said to have destroyed important documents. When asked whether the ex-president wanted to cover something up, his toilet now comes into focus.
Washington DC – In dealing with Donald Trump’s presidency, the focus is on his dubious handling of important documents. In the US, documents related to the President must always be archived. However, the investigation into the storming of the Capitol also struggles with the Trump team’s retention methods. New findings give indications of a cover-up.
Even during Donald Trump’s tenure, there were reports that the former US President regularly destroyed documents. As several ex-White House employees told CNN, Trump took boxes full of paperwork with him on his flights on Air Force One, ranging from news articles to classified documents. The former president scribbled messages on some to send to close associates, and left others torn on the floor. Employees regularly picked up the pieces to tape them back together for safekeeping. Trump ignored pleas from his chiefs of staff to stop tearing up documents.
Donald Trump hands over taped documents to US Congress
At least since Trump handed over documents glued together to the US Congress, it has become clear that the destroyed documents were also important material. Congress in the US is investigating the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, with the role of the former president also significant. In the debate about Trump’s handling of important material, there is always the question of the extent to which the destruction of important documents served as a cover-up. Presidential historian Lindsay Chervinsky told the Washington Post that tearing up papers shouldn’t be prosecuted. “You would have to show that he was very picky and that he wanted to behave unlawfully.”
New evidence suggests Donald Trump did just that. In an interview with the US broadcaster CNN, the journalist Maggie Haberman reported that printed paper that had been flushed down was regularly found in the toilet pipes of the then president. “It could be post-its, it could be notes he wrote himself, it could be other things, we don’t know,” Haberman said. When asked if it was definitely Trump’s toilet, the journalist said, “It was in the pipes, and that was his bathroom.”
| Surname | Donald John Trump |
|---|---|
| birth date | 06/14/1946 |
| place of birth | New York, United States |
| job | Entrepreneur, entertainer, politician |
| presidency | 2017 to 2021 |
Toilet affair: Trump denies allegations
Haberman did not want to go so far as to suggest in the interview that her research provided evidence of intentional destruction of information. However, the journalist said, also referring to other presidents, that she had never seen anything like it. Trump, on the other hand, described the allegations that he flushed documents down the toilet as “categorically untrue” in a statement.
Recently, official presidential documents were found at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. The National Archives rescued correspondence between Trump and Kim Jong-un, as well as a letter from former President Barack Obama to his successor. Two former Trump advisers told The Washington Post that the process of moving out of the White House was “hectic” as Trump refused to admit defeat in the US presidential election. (vbu/dpa)
Rubriklistenbild: © Brian Cahn/imago
