Donald Trump's Destruction Of Documents
US President Donald Trump speaks on lowering prescription drug prices in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC. MANDEL NGAN/MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
US President Donald Trump speaks on lowering prescription drug prices in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC.
MANDEL NGAN/MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty ImagesIn July 1973, Alexander Butterfield, the deputy assistant to President Richard Nixon, appeared before the Senate Watergate Committee. It was there that he made the shocking admission that he was aware of the installation of listening devices in the Oval Office.
The Nixon tapes, as they came to be known, set off the modern struggle over Presidential records that continues to this day. They inspired record-keeping rules that the Trump administration has repeatedly defied.
President Trump is known for tearing up documents that he's legally required to preserve, leaving records analysts no choice but to tape the pieces back together like a jigsaw puzzle. With the end of Trump's presidency looming, what will be saved, and what will be lost?
To look at these questions and more, we spoke with author Richard Ovenden and National Security Archive director Tom Blanton.
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