The National Archives on Monday made public a letter that indicates the agency asked former President Trump’s lawyers to account for a correspondence between himself and North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un as early as May 2021.
The email, which was sent to Trump’s lawyers, indicates Archives personnel faced “several problems” related to obtaining documents from the Trump administration.
“For example, the original correspondence between President Trump and North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un were not transferred to us; it is our understanding that in January 2021, just prior to the end of the Administration, the originals were put in a binder for the President, but were never returned to the Office of Records Management for transfer to NARA. It is essential that these original records be transferred to NARA as soon as possible,” Archives General Counsel Gary M. Stern wrote.
“Similarly, the letter that President Obama left for President Trump on his first day in office has not been transferred; since that letter was received by President Trump after his term commenced, it is a Presidential record – note that all of NARA’s other Presidential Libraries maintain the original copy of similar letters, and it is necessary that this one be provided to us as well,” Stern wrote.
The release of the letter comes after nearly 50 Freedom of Information requests were made of the Archives after the Aug. 8 FBI search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resident in which agents recovered hundreds of documents, many with a variety of classified markings.
The contents of the letter had been previously reported on by other media outlets before the Archives made it public Monday.
