Stern wrote in email: “This also as far as we understand, about two dozen boxes of original presidential records were kept in Residence of White House over well of President Trump last year in office and were not transferred to NARA despite Pat Cipollone’s decision. in in final days of administration that they need to be. I had also raised this concern with Scott in in final weeks.”
“Scott” refers to Scott Gast, another Trump lawyer. who was copied on message.
Cipollone together with with his former Deputy Patrick Philbin, were appointed by Trump shortly before he left office to deal with with questions related to his presidential credentials.
CNN failed to reach Cipollone for comment on Email.
The National Archives previously claimed at least 15 boxes. of The White House tapes were found at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. in January – including some of them that were classified. As well as in in a search earlier this month, the FBI found 11 kits of secret documents, including some materials marked as “top secret/SCI” — one of in highest levels of classification.
According to a source familiar with case, there were about a dozen letters and calls over well of in year when the Archive tried to get Trump to return the presidential papers.
The archives knew that the White House Records Office had identified a lack of documents before Trump. left officeaccording to the source.
Besides, the Archive was up to date. of two dozen boxes in residence even when Trump was in officethe source said.
But there was no inventory, no documentation. of what exactly was in those boxes.
Shortly after Trump left officenegotiations for come back of documents between the Archives and Trump team began, according to a source familiar. There have been repeated phone calls and messages to try and get the boxes back but to no avail, the source said.
Finally, in In January 2022, Trump agreed to return 15 cases, rather than the 24 cases the Archives were aware of. of — which were kept at his residence in Mar-a-Lago — boxes that the Archives determined contained classified documents.
This story was updated with additional reporting.
Evan Perez and Gabby Orr of CNN contributed to this report.