Some Documents Handed Over To Jan 6 Committee Were Torn By Trump: National Archives

National Archives staff had to tape back some of the Trump White House documents that are now with the committee that is investigating the Jan. 6 riot. The agency said that the staff had to do so as they has been ripped up by former President Donald Trump.

Three sources told The Washington Post about the state of the administration documents. The National Archives also said in a statement that documents turned over from the Trump White House “included paper records that had been torn up by former President Trump." The agency said that during the Trump administration, White House records management officials "recovered and taped together some of the torn-up records."

The documents were turned over to the National Archives at the end of the Trump administration, along with a number of "torn-up records that had not been reconstructed by the White House." According to the agency, the Presidential Records Act requires that all documents created by American presidents be "turned over to the National Archives at the end of their administrations.”

Trump had sued to stop the Jan. 6 committee from being given certain records from his White House days. His lawyer had claimed that it was illegal and that Trump wanted to preserve privileges over some of the documents, reported The Hill. The court battle even reached the Supreme Court, reported CNN. Joe Biden's administration chose not to support Trump's privilege claims, and the courts sided with the committee, allowing the documents to be handed over to the panel.

Earlier this month, the archives turned over more than 700 documents that Trump had tried to block from the committee. The agency said at the time that on the evening of Jan. 20, the National Archives and Records Administration provided the committee "with all the records at issue in the litigation."

Members of the committee have said that as part of the release, they are still in the process of poring over hundreds of pages of records. According to court filings, the documents include drafts of speeches, three handwritten notes of top advisers during the Trump-era, White House call logs and visitor logs. The committee said that the White House documents are essential part of their investigation.