National Archives Withholding Most Records Related to FBI Raid of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago: Watchdog
A government agency is withholding many records related to the FBI’s raid of former President Donald Trump’s home, a watchdog says.
Judicial Watch is seeking records related to the National Archives and Records Administration’s referral to the Department of Justice of Trump’s records management procedures, and records related to the retrieval of the materials stored at Mar-a-Lago.
The archives, known as NARA, identified 1,612 responsive records but told Judicial Watch in letters made public on Oct. 11 that it will release just 65 of them.
The rest are shielded from disclosure by various exemptions to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), NARA said, such as an exemption that allows agencies to withhold inter-agency and intra-agency records.
That exemption “was asserted to protect NARA’s deliberations with Trump’s representatives, Congress, and other federal agencies,” Jodi Foor, a deputy archivist, told Judicial Watch. “Release would have a chilling effect on those deliberations, inhibiting the relationships and cooperation needed for compliance with the Presidential Records Act.”
The withholding of so many records shows the Biden administration “is in cover-up mode” over the raid, Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement.
“The National Archives pretends to be concerned to public access to public information while unlawfully ignoring FOIA law and using a myriad of excuses to hide records about its manufactured dispute over the Trump records,” he said.
NARA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Boxes Transferred, Referral
Trump transferred 15 boxes of documents to NARA in January.
NARA made a referral to the Department of Justice, the FBI’s parent agency, in February after finding documents with classified markings among the boxes transferred from Mar-a-Lago to the archives, former Archivist David Ferriero has said.
FBI agents raided Mar-a-Lago in August. In an affidavit attesting to the need for a search warrant, an FBI agent
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