What about the role of Mark Meadows?
Did the FBI raid Mar-a-Lago to retrieve letters to Trump from Korean leader Kim Jong-un? Were they looking for the letter written to Trump by Barack Obama and left inside the Resolute desk at the end of Obama’s time in the White House? According to reporting, both of those items are at the top of the list of documents the National Archive wants from Donald Trump.
Do those documents sound like they would warrant the first-ever raid on a former president’s private residence? The last days of the Trump administration are under scrutiny as reports surface that the time was chaotic and Trump left much of the responsibility of fulfilling obligations under the Presidential Records Act to his chief of staff, Mark Meadows. White House staff secretary, Derek Lyons stepped down on December 18, 2020. He managed paperwork inside the executive complex. That left Meadows as the person responsible for overseeing the transition process. Meadows had no significant executive experience so this task was likely over his head. The White House emailed all of its offices detailed instructions about returning documents and cleaning out spaces. Meadows followed up and encouraged the offices to comply. He also assured White House staff members that he would talk to Trump about securing records. Some documents were stored in the residence.
The New York Times piece on this focuses on the “chaotic” atmosphere of Trump’s final days in the White House and Trump’s focus on granting pardons in his last hours.
