It has been documented in multiple reports that former President Donald Trump had a habit of tearing up presidential records and throwing them on the ground while he was in the White House.
Sometimes, staffers would tape the documents back together. But a new report indicates that other times, the possibly important documents were put into "burn bags" to be incinerated at the Pentagon.
According to the Washington Post, White House staffers were tasked with deciding which torn documents needed to be preserved and which needed to be destroyed. The documents were often left in pieces on the floor. But on other occasions, according to the report, torn documents were found in burn bags.
Two types of burn bags, which resemble paper grocery bags, are widely available throughout the White House complex, the Post reported. One is for classified documents and the other is for unclassified documents, but both are ultimately destroyed.
A senior Trump White House official told the Post that staffers would go on regular "burn runs" to the Pentagon, where bags filled with documents would be set on fire.
Trump was reportedly indiscriminate with which documents he ripped. While some contained sensitive information, others were not classified.
According to the Presidential Records Act, the official records of the president and presidential staff are owned by the public and must be preserved and turned over to the National Archives and Records Administration. If the president wants to dispose of any records, permission must first be granted from records officials. Destroying documents against the Presidential Records Act is a violation of federal law.
It's not known how many records were destroyed through the ripping-and-burning routine. Those familiar with the practice estimate hundreds of documents, if not more, were likely torn up, according to the Post.
A Trump spokesperson did not respond to the Post's request for comment.
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