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PETTY TYRANT
Will Weissert
Mon, January 6, 2025
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump is promising to replace the head of the National Archives, thrusting the agency back into the political spotlight after his mishandling of sensitive documents led to a federal indictment.
“We will have a new archivist," Trump told radio host Hugh Hewitt on Monday.
The agency piqued Trump's ire after it alerted the Department of Justice about potential problems with Trump’s handling of classified documents in early 2022. That set in motion an investigation that led to a dramatic FBI search of Trump's home at Mar-a-Lago, which culminated in him becoming the first former president charged with federal crimes.
The current archivist, Colleen Shogan, the first woman in the role, wasn't in the post at that time. David Ferriero, who had been appointed by President Barack Obama in 2009, announced in January 2022 that he'd be retiring effective that April.
Shogan was nominated by President Joe Biden in August 2022, just days before the FBI search at Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida. But she was not confirmed until May of the following year, after a monthslong partisan battle over the agency’s role in the documents investigation.
The national archivist can be removed from office by the president, who can choose a successor who is then confirmed by the Senate, so Trump's promise to do so is not unusual.
Still, Trump has vowed to smash what he calls the “ deep state,” a nebulous term referring generally to the federal government, including civil servants and bureaucrats he argues are hostile to his ideological views and those of Republicans more broadly.
Presidents are legally required to provide most of their records to the National Archives once they leave office. When the National Archives realized that some documents were missing from its collection after Trump left office, they made repeated demands for him to return them, according to the federal indictment.
Trump eventually turned over some of the documents but hid others, the indictment charged. He was indicted by special counsel Jack Smith on charges including willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and false statements and representations.
He pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing. Prosecutors moved to abandon the case after his Election Day victory in November. That was consistent with long-standing Justice Department policy that says sitting presidents cannot face criminal prosecution.
Will Weissert, The Associated Press
Trump says he’ll replace National Archives leader
Mon, January 6, 2025
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump is promising to replace the head of the National Archives, thrusting the agency back into the political spotlight after his mishandling of sensitive documents led to a federal indictment.
“We will have a new archivist," Trump told radio host Hugh Hewitt on Monday.
The agency piqued Trump's ire after it alerted the Department of Justice about potential problems with Trump’s handling of classified documents in early 2022. That set in motion an investigation that led to a dramatic FBI search of Trump's home at Mar-a-Lago, which culminated in him becoming the first former president charged with federal crimes.
The current archivist, Colleen Shogan, the first woman in the role, wasn't in the post at that time. David Ferriero, who had been appointed by President Barack Obama in 2009, announced in January 2022 that he'd be retiring effective that April.
Shogan was nominated by President Joe Biden in August 2022, just days before the FBI search at Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida. But she was not confirmed until May of the following year, after a monthslong partisan battle over the agency’s role in the documents investigation.
The national archivist can be removed from office by the president, who can choose a successor who is then confirmed by the Senate, so Trump's promise to do so is not unusual.
Still, Trump has vowed to smash what he calls the “ deep state,” a nebulous term referring generally to the federal government, including civil servants and bureaucrats he argues are hostile to his ideological views and those of Republicans more broadly.
Presidents are legally required to provide most of their records to the National Archives once they leave office. When the National Archives realized that some documents were missing from its collection after Trump left office, they made repeated demands for him to return them, according to the federal indictment.
Trump eventually turned over some of the documents but hid others, the indictment charged. He was indicted by special counsel Jack Smith on charges including willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and false statements and representations.
He pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing. Prosecutors moved to abandon the case after his Election Day victory in November. That was consistent with long-standing Justice Department policy that says sitting presidents cannot face criminal prosecution.
Will Weissert, The Associated Press
Trump says he’ll replace National Archives leader
Tara Suter
THE HILL
Mon, January 6, 2025
President-elect Trump said on Monday that he’ll replace the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) leader.
“We will [have a] new archivist,” Trump told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on his show.
According to federal law on the NARA website, Trump has the power to fire the archivist but must “communicate the reasons for any such removal to each House of the Congress.”
One of the prominent legal cases the president-elect has had to deal with in the past two years, the Mar-a-Lago documents case, centered around his retention of sensitive documents from his first presidency, in the face of work by NARA and the FBI to get them back.
Special counsel Jack Smith formally withdrew from the documents case last week, referring the continuing prosecution of the president-elect’s two co-defendants to Southern District of Florida federal prosecutors. Smith also formally dropped charges against Trump in both of his federal cases two months ago, dismissing them without prejudice and citing Justice Department policy barring the prosecution of a sitting president.
“We also had a very brilliant and very fair judge on the case,” Trump told Hewitt on Monday, referring to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who ruled to toss the documents case in July.
“And as you know, we won that case … we won it convincingly,” the president-elect added.
The current Archivist of the United States Colleen Shogan has been in the role since May 2023. While still a nominee, she faced confrontation from Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) about past posts on the social platform X, including those in which she went after Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and backed mask mandates for young children.
“Dr. Shogan has had a strong working relationship with President Trump and his team. We look forward to continuing that relationship with the new administration,” National Archives Public and Media Communications said in an emailed statement to The Hill Sunday.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
Mon, January 6, 2025
President-elect Trump said on Monday that he’ll replace the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) leader.
“We will [have a] new archivist,” Trump told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on his show.
According to federal law on the NARA website, Trump has the power to fire the archivist but must “communicate the reasons for any such removal to each House of the Congress.”
One of the prominent legal cases the president-elect has had to deal with in the past two years, the Mar-a-Lago documents case, centered around his retention of sensitive documents from his first presidency, in the face of work by NARA and the FBI to get them back.
Special counsel Jack Smith formally withdrew from the documents case last week, referring the continuing prosecution of the president-elect’s two co-defendants to Southern District of Florida federal prosecutors. Smith also formally dropped charges against Trump in both of his federal cases two months ago, dismissing them without prejudice and citing Justice Department policy barring the prosecution of a sitting president.
“We also had a very brilliant and very fair judge on the case,” Trump told Hewitt on Monday, referring to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who ruled to toss the documents case in July.
“And as you know, we won that case … we won it convincingly,” the president-elect added.
The current Archivist of the United States Colleen Shogan has been in the role since May 2023. While still a nominee, she faced confrontation from Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) about past posts on the social platform X, including those in which she went after Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and backed mask mandates for young children.
“Dr. Shogan has had a strong working relationship with President Trump and his team. We look forward to continuing that relationship with the new administration,” National Archives Public and Media Communications said in an emailed statement to The Hill Sunday.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
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