On his desk there is a mountain of papers. The walls are covered with framed magazine covers and all kinds of memorabilia. A massive Shaquille O’Neal sneaker sits alongside football helmets, boxing belts and other sporting goods scattered throughout the Trump Tower office.
Long before he entered politics, Donald Trump loved to collect things. It is a lifelong habit that, along with his carelessness, his tendency to ignore the rules and his chaotic departure from the White House after refusing to accept their electoral defeat, they led to an investigation that poses extraordinary political and legal challenges.
The recent search of his Mar-a-Lago home for documents from his years in the White House was an unprecedented move against a former president who is widely expected to run for president again.
The authorities they have not revealed what exactly was contained in the boxes that were takenBut the FBI said it has recovered a number of documents, including some that could cause “exceptionally serious” harm to US interests if released to the public.
Donald Trump’s mansion in Mar-a-Lago. AP Photo
tape them down
It is not clear why Trump refused to hand over the documents confiscated despite repeated requests to do so. But his tendency to ignore the Presidential Archives Act, which stipulates how those archives should be handled, is well documented throughout his tenure as president.
He used to tear up documents that later had to be taped together. Official documents that are normally delivered to the National Archives were mixed with his personal belongings in the presidential residence. tweeted classified information, which journalists and adversaries could see. She was even found in the bathrooms of the White House.
John Bolton, who was Trump’s third national security adviser, said he had heard before he arrived that “there was some concern in the air about how did you manage the information. Over time, I realized why.”
Documents seized at Donald Trump’s home. Archyde.com Photo
The decision to take classified documents to Mar-a-Lago, a busy property that hosts weddings, political events, charity events and other activities, fits into an old pattern of ignoring secrets that may affect national security. Former aides said Trump was cavalier about classified information.
At a dinner with then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on a patio at Mar-a-Lago, for example, diners were able to view and photograph documents Trump and Shinzo viewed on North Korean missile tests.
On one occasion Trump passed to Russian officials Highly classified information from Israeli sources about the Islamic State organization. In another, he tweeted a high-resolution satellite image of an apparent explosion at an Iranian space center, which intelligence personnel had said was highly sensitive. Trump insisted that he had “a clear right” to share it.
conan the dog
Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said Trump was “sloppy” in handling classified or sensitive information and that “they didn’t seem to care” the reasons why you should not share it.
He recalled an episode involving Conan, an armed forces dog who was hailed as a hero for his role in a raid that killed Islamic State chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. He said that before the dog’s arrival at the White House, staff were told that the dog could not be photographed because it could endanger those who work with him. But Trump decided he wanted to show it to the press.
“He wanted the publicity,” Grisham said. “It’s an example of how little he cares about putting lives on the line. It was like it was a cute toy that he shows to his friends to impress them.”
Bolton said that during the time he worked for Trump, he and others tried to explain to him what was at stake and the risks associated with disclosure of sources and methods.
“I don’t think any of that interested him. He didn’t seem to realize how delicate these things were, how dangerous it was for some of our people and the risks it could expose them to,” he said. look like an innocent photo, can be a gold mine for foreign intelligence services”.
“Over and over I told him, ‘This is very delicate, very delicate.’ He would say ‘I know.’ And then he would go and do it again.”
Bolton maintained that Trump liked to keep important documents.
“Sometimes he asked to keep something and (his collaborators) told him, ‘it’s something very delicate’. And he stayed with them anyway”.
Trump’s refusal to accept his electoral defeat caused the transition was chaotic. When he finally decided to leave the White House, there wasn’t much time to pack up and make an orderly exit.
Bolton says he doesn’t think Trump took classified documents for nefarious purposes. He supposes that he considered them “souvenirs”, like so many things he collected throughout his life.
`ʻI suspect he liked certain things and he wanted to keep them,” he said. “Some days he liked to take out French fries. Others wanted to take documents. Collect everything”.
AP Agency
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