In a dispute with the National Archives, Donald Trump intervened. It might spell his demise.

 All federal government records must be gathered, catalogued, and stored by the National Archives. It approaches its work seriously, according to Richard Hall.

It's possible that when the history of the Trump era is recounted many years from now, it will be noted that his downfall was not caused by his political opponents, the Deep State, or even the voting public. When it did, the end started when he got into a fight with an archivist.

The National Archives and Records Administration's (NARA) archivists are certainly not your average librarians; they are responsible for maintaining all presidential records, including every memo, letter, gift, and executive order that ever crosses a president's desk. For the benefit of the general public, who these objects belong to, they diligently record and store all of those records.

It is clear that Donald Trump undervalued archivists and their work, despite the fact that he has spent much of his political career trampleing on conventions and institutions. The biggest legal risk he now faces stems from his allegedly improper handling of government records, which could spell the end of his political career.

The drama started in January 2021, amid Mr. Trump's turbulent departure from the White House. Mr. Trump was completely unprepared for moving day after fighting the reality of his defeat for more than two months and unleashing his supporters on lawmakers in the Capitol.

The outgoing president typically turns over to the National Archives on this day all official documents that are in their possession. As is his habit, Mr. Trump broke with convention.

But few of them could have predicted that their involvement in the chain of events that resulted in an FBI search of Mar-a-Lago would propel them into the public eye in the manner they have in recent weeks.

The National Archives, a massive neoclassical structure in Washington, DC, is almost equally spaced from the White House and the US Capitol and is surrounded on either side by 72 Corinthian columns. The original Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, to name a few, are all housed inside its walls, making its location between these two democratic pillars appropriate. But it also houses countless millions of government and historical records, all of which it must keep safe for the public's benefit.

The National Archives' role as an institution extends far beyond record-keeping; it sees itself as a defender of democracy and of history itself. Big inscriptions carved into the side of the massive structure on Pennsylvania Avenue provide a hint as to how seriously it approaches this responsibility. It says: "This structure embodies our faith in the enduring nature of our national institutions and maintains in trust the archives of our national existence."

Photographs of his hurried exit from the White House show servants lugging dozens of boxes to his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago. We now know that numerous top-secret and classified documents were contained in those boxes and should have been given to the National Archives, which is responsible for evaluating and archiving those records.

"Obviously, with administrations seeking to win re-election, it may be a tense moment. The Nixon Presidential Library's former archivist for more than 15 years, Steve Greene, told The Independent that people are in a panic. That's completely unrelated to the circumstance they were in in 2020, when the president in office vehemently denied that they had lost, which posed significant difficulties.

"Even in the best of circumstances, it kind of requires all hands on deck. To complete this type of work, it may attract staff members from various National Archives offices who work nearly nonstop, extraordinarily long hours, and on weekends. It's important work, and I respect my coworkers who have consistently performed it, said Mr. Greene, who also worked at the National Archives in Maryland.

The United States' tenth archivist, David Ferriero, would later recall the sequence of incidents that made them believe not everything had been turned over to the archives.

In a May interview to commemorate his retirement, Mr. Ferriero claimed that the White House Office of Records Management had informed him that there were boxes at the White House that needed to be transferred to the Archives.

"Those boxes hadn't shown up yet as we were moving materials out of the White House just before the inauguration," he told the Washington Post. He continued, "I can still recall seeing the Trumps leave the White House and board the helicopter that day, and someone was carrying a white banker box, and I remember thinking, 'What the hell's in that box?'"

It took a few months for archives officials to realise that some crucial documents from the boxes Mr. Trump did deliver to them seemed to be missing. Gary Stern, the general counsel at NARA, wrote to Mr. Trump's attorneys in May to request their return.

As they always are during a one-term transition, "we know things are quite chaotic," he added. But getting hold of and keeping track of all presidential records is a must.

If Mr. Trump had promptly turned over all the sensitive information he had in his possession, his problems might have been over at this point. But he took a different path. Mr. Trump's team ignored repeated requests from NARA officials for months before finally caving in and turning over 15 boxes to the National Archives in January 2022.

These 15 boxes were examined by the archivists, who then made a startling discovery. The boxes contained printouts of news articles and other items along with documents that were clearly marked as classified, secret, and top secret—the highest security classifications. They discovered 184 distinct documents with classification markings in total, including 67 marked as confidential, 92 marked as secret, and 25 marked as top secret. The National Archives then made the unusual decision to refer the situation to the Department of Justice for a potential investigation into the improper handling of classified records. Agency representatives were eager to retrieve any additional documents that the former president might have.

I was shocked, but not surprised, according to everything I've heard about how that administration conducted business, said Mr. Greene. It's worrying, of course," he continued. The National Archives typically keeps a low profile, and I used to jokingly tell people that we liked it that way.

According to Mr. Greene, the National Archives' urgency was caused by the national security aspect of those documents, which was "certainly the foremost issue."

He said that there had been "longstanding worries" about the Trump administration's treatment of papers, and that "if it were purely a records management debate, I suspect it would be generating the kind of interest and partisan sparring we're witnessing."

"For a while, there have been rumours that he tore up papers and then later threw them away in the bathroom. And it's not helpful for anyone's image," he added.

However, he said that a portion of the issue stems from the power disparity between this relatively minor federal agency and the White House.

We're a little federal agency with enormous obligations, but we have no practical means of carrying them out, he remarked.

The archives approached the DOJ with their request because they were unable to compel Mr. Trump to turn over the documents. That tip sparked a DOJ investigation, which ultimately resulted in a search of Mr. Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, where yet another cache of sensitive information was discovered. Agents collected more than 100 "unique documents with classified marks," including three that were kept at Mr. Trump's desk, according to an inventory of the search that was unsealed on Friday. They also discovered 90 empty folders that had previously contained extremely sensitive documents.

Following the Mar-a-Lago search, Mr. Trump and his allies criticised the archives harshly, entangling it in a political conflict for which it was unprepared.

"They were free to enjoy it whenever they desired, even in the distant past. THEY ONLY HAD TO ASK. The bigger issue is what will be done with the 33 million pages of documents that President Obama brought to Chicago, many of which are classified. On August 12, Mr. Trump posted a message on his Truth Social website.

The National Archives responded to that post in an unusual manner and swiftly dismissed Mr. Trump's unfounded assertion. In accordance with the Presidential Records Act, it was stated in a statement that NARA "assumed exclusive legal and physical custody of Obama Presidential records when President Barack Obama left office in 2017."

The statement continued, "As required by the PRA, Former President Obama has no control over the location and manner of NARA's storage of the Presidential records of his Administration.

Although the most controversial elements of the case passed from the hands of the National Archives to the Department of Justice and the FBI, the attention on it did not.

In a letter to NARA staff this week, acting Archivist Debra Wall said that the agency had been under attack for its role in the investigation into Mr Trump’s handling of records.

"The National Archives has been the focus of intense scrutiny for months, this week especially, with many people ascribing political motivation to our actions. NARA has received messages from the public accusing us of corruption and conspiring against the former President, or congratulating NARA for ‘bringing him down,’" she wrote, according to a copy of the letter obtained by CNN.

"Neither is accurate or welcome," she added. "For the past 30-plus years as a NARA career civil servant, I have been proud to work for a uniquely and fiercely non-political government agency, known for its integrity and its position as an ‘honest broker.’ This notion is in our establishing laws and in our very culture. I hold it dear, and I know you do, too."

“We will continue to do our work, without favor or fear, in the service of our democracy,” Ms Wall concluded.

The National Archives said it does not comment on matters of security when asked by The Independent about reports that its staff had faced threats.

On a scorching summer day this week, tourists and visitors flowed in and out of the National Archives museum as usual. They gathered in the grand rotunda in the heart of the building and stood in front of America’s founding documents. Out front, two young women wearing ‘Make America Great Again’ hats took selfies with the grand columns as a backdrop. When asked by The Independent if they were angry at the archives for their role in Mr Trump’s troubles, they replied that they were entirely unaware of the furor.

As Mr Trump’s legal peril mounts, Mr Greene is hoping the archives can get on with the important job of preserving history.

“It’s sad for all of us in so many ways. But I think I have to give some credit to my colleagues, they handled a horrible situation very well,” he said.

“The people that work in the National Archives are professionals, they’re not partisans. Their sole interest is that the raw material of history is preserved and the laws and regulations related to national security information are observed.”