Case 9:22-mj-08332-BER Document 102-1 Entered on FLSD Docket 08/26/2022 Page 8 of 38
Inspector General sent the NARA Referral via email to DOJ. The NARA Referral stated that according to NARA’s White House Liaison Division Director, a preliminary review of the Fifteen Boxes indicated that they contained “newspapers, magazines, printed news articles, photos, miscellaneous print-outs, notes, presidential correspondence, personal and post-presidential records, and ‘a lot of classified records.’ Of most significant concern was that highly classified records were unfoldered, intermixed with other records, and otherwise unproperly [sic] identified.”
25. On February 18, 2022, the Archivist of the United States, chief administrator for NARA, stated in a letter to Congress’s Committee on Oversight and Reform Chairwoman The Honorable Carolyn B. Maloney, “NARA had ongoing communications with the representatives of former President Trump throughout 2021, which resulted in the transfer of 15 boxes to NARA in January 2022. … NARA has identified items marked as classified national security information within the boxes.” The letter also stated that, “[b]ecause NARA identified classified information in the boxes, NARA staff has been in communication with the Department of Justice.” The letter was made publicly available at the following uniform resource locator (URL): https://www.archives.gov/files/foia/ferriero-response-to-02.09.2022-maloney-letter.02.18.2022.pdf. On February 18, 2022, the same day, the Save America Political Action Committee (PAC) posted the following statement on behalf of FPOTUS: “The National Archives did not ‘find’ anything, they were given, upon request, Presidential Records in an ordinary and routine process to ensure the preservation of my legacy and in accordance with the Presidential Records Act. …” An image of this statement is below.
