Donald Trump has denied allegations that he flushed documents down a White House toilet in a bid to destroy them.
The former president spoke out about the recent accusations after 15 boxes of presidential records were recovered from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
An investigation is currently underway to determine whether Trump's possession of the documents violated the Presidential Records Act, which mandates that records made by a sitting president and his staff are preserved in the archives, and that documents are turned over to the National Archives at the end of the presidential term.
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In a statement released by his Save America PAC, Trump claimed he was not required to hand over the material he had at Mar-a-Lago and denied the accusations that he had flushed documents down the toilet.
The latter allegation came in a recent Axios report that cited excerpts from an upcoming book by New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, titled Confidence Man.
In the book, Haberman claims White House staff 'periodically discovered wads of printed paper clogging a toilet' during Trump's time in office, and that it was 'believed the president had flushed pieces of paper'.
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Per Insider, Trump's statement read, 'Another fake story, that I flushed papers and documents down a White House toilet, is categorically untrue and simply made up by a reporter in order to get publicity for a mostly fictitious book.'
In reference to the documents found at Mar-a-Lago, he commented, 'In actuality, I have been told I was under no obligation to give this material based on various legal rulings that have been made over the years.'
Bloomberg White House reporter Jennifer Jacobs has described Haberman's reporting about the documents in toilets as '100% accurate', claiming that sources at the time confirmed White House staff had found torn up pieces of paper in toilets and believed Trump was behind it.
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The allegations are the latest in reported ways that Trump sought to destroy documents, with others accusing Trump of ripping up papers, eating them, and dropping them on the floor.
Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney has written a letter to archivist David Ferriero seeking information on the 15 boxes of records the National Archives recovered from Mar-a-Lago, saying in a statement today she was 'deeply concerned that these records were not provided to the National Archives and Records Administration promptly at the end of the Trump administration and they appear to have been removed from the White House'.
Maloney is asking to have the information by the end of next week.
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Topics: Donald Trump, US News, Politics
Emily Brown