Meadows Claimed Boxes Taken From White House Held Only 'News Clippings'

According to the Post, National Archives attorney Gary Stern spoke with former deputy White House counsel Pat Philbin. Philbin told Stern that he had spoken to Meadows about concerns Trump had left the White House with presidential records. But according to Meadows, Trump didn’t have anything. Just that dozen boxes of clippings.

According to Meadows and Philbin, “Trump’s team was aware of no other materials.”

This is an enormous lie. First, there was the simply quantity of the documents Trump ferried away. The National Archives got 15 boxes back in January. The FBI took more documents in July. And FBI agents took 12 boxes in the search at Mar-a-Lago. On top of that, we know they didn’t take everything. Donald Trump and Mark Meadows may not be excessively clever, but there should be an assumption they can tell the difference between twelve and more than thirty.

Then comes the actual nature of the documents. Even if Judge Aileen Cannon chooses not to believe the FBI, the National Archives have already stated that they found more than 150 classified documents just in the materials that were handed to them in January. That was before another stack of classified documents was handed over in July. And before the FBI carried out it’s search in August. In all, there were over 300 classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.

And, thanks to that one photo provided in a DOJ filing, we not only know that Trump has atrocious taste in carpet, but that these documents were clearly marked as containing some of the most sensitive information in existence.

The blatantly obvious nature of the documents that Trump stole—and the fact that he kept many of the classified documents not among the boxes in storage, but in his office—shows that he absolutely knew what he had. Trump knew what he was taking. He also knew how critical it was to national security. He just didn’t care. Because he knew what it was worth.

A spokesperson for Meadows has responded to the Post story with a statement that Meadows, “did not personally review the boxes at Mar A Lago and did not have a role in examining or verifying what was or wasn’t contained within them.” It’s too bad that’s not what he told Philbin.

If Meadows didn’t personally review the boxes, but he told Philbin they contained only ‘news clippings,’ then where did he get that information? Meadows deserves a chance to explain. Under oath.