WASHINGTON — The Trump White House did not preserve the former president’s social media accounts, the National Archivist told Congress on Friday, warning lawmakers that some of the missing records may not be retrievable.
“The Trump Administration did not fully capture, and therefore NARA did not receive, all of the Presidential records created by Trump and White House staff that were posted on social media platforms,” Archivist David Ferriero wrote in a letter to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. Ferriero said in the letter he was asking for the committee’s advice as required under the Presidential Records Act when presidential records are destroyed or disposed of without the Archivist’s input.
Ferriero said the National Archives received former President Donald Trump’s electronic presidential records in November 2021 and has been working with the various social media companies in the months since to retrieve the missing records, which include tweets and other social media posts deleted by Trump or White House staff from his personal and official accounts.
But, not all records have been retrievable, especially deleted tweets, Facebook and Instagram posts and Snapchat posts.
Friday’s letter is another recent example of the Trump White House mishandling presidential records, which by law are public property and must be handed over the National Archivist when a president leaves office.
The National Archives recently recovered 15 boxes of official records from Trump’s home at the Mar-a-Lago beach club in Palm Beach, Florida, some of which were reportedly labeled classified or top secret, others of which were reportedly ripped into pieces.
