Donald Trump reportedly told his close aides that he felt the need to preserve documents related to the Russian collusion investigation over fears the Joe Biden administration would “shred” them.
The documents were part of the federal investigation into Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 elections to sow discord in the US and boost Mr Trump’s chances of winning over Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.
A memo declassified by the US justice department in August stated the former president was not prosecuted following the Russia investigation because his actions did not amount to obstruction of justice.
During his final days at the White House, Mr Trump and his team pushed to declassify the documents, dreading that the papers would expose a plot against him, Rolling Stone reported.
According to people aware of the situation, the former president was "concerned" Mr Biden's administration, which he called the “deep state” would “shred”, bury, or destroy “the evidence” that could prove the Republican leader was “wronged”.
The information comes a month after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) seized a trove of classified documents, which included nuclear secrets of an unnamed foreign nation, from the 45th president’s Mar-a-Lago resort and residence in Florida.
Although the contents of the documents are largely unknown, Mr Trump had claimed that he believed federal agents raided his home to find materials related to the “Russia hoax”.
“I think they thought it was something to do with the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax,” Mr Trump said earlier this month. “They were afraid that things were in there — part of their scam material.”
John Ratcliffe, the former director of national intelligence, who had declassified information on how the US had obtained information about Moscow’s “intelligence analysis” on Ms Clinton’s campaign, said “it wouldn’t surprise” him if there were Russia-related records at Mr Trump’s house.
Former Pentagon chief of staff Kash Patel claimed Mr Trump had asked him “to help retrieve and publish” the “Russiagate material” the White House counsel had sent to the National Archives during the last days of his administration.
