When Donald Trump first started facing questions about the mishandled White House materials he improperly took to Mar-a-Lago, his aides wasted no time in downplaying the significance of the revelations. Team Trump told The Washington Post last week, for example, that the items “included correspondence with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which Trump once described as ‘love letters,’ as well as a letter left for Trump by President Barack Obama.”
That was before we knew the former president took 15 boxes full of stuff. It was also before the reporting that the materials included classified documents clearly marked at the “top secret” level, which he retained at an unauthorized location known as a haven for spies.
But the Republican has also sought to downplay the process through which the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) retrieved the mishandled materials.
Trump issued a written statement the other day, suggesting the matter was handled perfectly. There were “collaborative and respectful discussions,” he said, between his team and archivists. The materials “were given easily and without conflict and on a very friendly basis,” he added.








