The US National Archives Asks Former President And Vice President To Check Notes After Determination Of Secret Documents Findings

Illustration of classified documents. (Piaxabay/TayebMEZAHDIA)

JAKARTA - The United States National Archives has formally asked former presidents and vice presidents to re-examine their personal records regarding classified documents or other presidential records, after classified documents were found at the homes of former President Donald Trump, former Vice President Mike Pence and President Joe Biden over the past year.

The National Archives sent a letter on Thursday to representatives of the former president and vice president of the last six presidential administrations, which were covered by the Presidential Records Act (PRA) from the White House since President Ronald lost it to date.

The letter, reviewed by CNN, requested that they carry out a document examination, to ensure material deemed personal, does not "intentionally" contain a presidential note required by law to be submitted to the National Archives.

"The responsibility for complying with the PRA has not decreased after the end of the government," the letter read.

"Therefore, we ask you to assess any material stored outside of NARA, which is related to the Administration in which you serve as a designated representative under the PRA, to determine whether a collection of material that was previously considered private, may accidentally contain Presidential Records or Vice President subject to PRA, both undisclosed and undisclosed," the letter continued.

The letter noted, "While a lot of attention from these examples is focused on classified information, PRA requires all the President's records of any Administration since President cutoff and beyond must be transferred to NARA, regardless of its classification status."

The National Archives sent the letter to representatives of former President Trump, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George HW Bush and Ronald lost. As well as former Vice President Pence, Biden, Dick Cheney, Al Gore and Dan Quayle.

Freddy Ford, former chief of staff of President George W. Bush, quickly responded to the letter on Thursday: "Thank you for your record. We understand the purpose and remain confident that there is no such material that we have."

Meanwhile, representatives of four previous former presidents told CNN they had no secret notes they had.

Representatives of former President Clinton, George W. Bush, Obama, and the late George HW Bush told CNN all secret records had been submitted to the National Archives after leaving the office.

Separately, Former President Jimmy Carter did not receive a letter from the National Archives, as he was technically released from ACT's Presidential Registry. Even though Carter signed the PRA, it was not effective until he left office.

In the latest case, Pence submitted approximately a dozen classified documents to the FBI, as CNN first reported this week, in the third case of a current or previous White House resident having classified material at home or office.

Because he was very careful, Pence also provided four unclassified boxes of material to the National Archives, to ensure that no more of his belongings were included in the Presidential Records Act.

Trump has more than 300 classified documents at his Florida Mar-a-Lago resort. Meanwhile, President Biden has ten classified documents at his former private office in Washington. A collection of classified documents was further found at President Biden's residence in Wilmington, Delaware.