Enlarge image
Documents seized during search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence
Photo: HANDOUT/AFP
According to CNN, the US National Archives have asked former US presidents and vice presidents to check their personal files for classified information or other presidential documents.
Most recently, such documents were discovered in the possession of former President Donald Trump, President Joe Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence.
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has sent a letter to representatives of past presidents and vice presidents of the last six presidential administrations covered by the Presidential Records Act (PRA), according to the CNN report.
The letter, quoted by CNN, urges former heads of state to review their files to ensure purportedly personal material does not "accidentally" include presidential records that by law must be turned over to the National Archives.
Documents marked classified were discovered last week at former Vice President Mike Pence's Indiana home.
Secret documents from his time as Vice President and Senator were also found on the current US President Biden.
He insists it was an accident and is cooperating with the authorities.
His predecessor Donald Trump was completely different: when he left the White House in early 2021, he took hundreds of documents marked as secret with him.
For months he denied this and resisted requests to return the government documents until FBI officials raided his home.
Biden and Trump have been heavily criticized since then, and the authorities are investigating the cases.
Lack of transparency - or simply too many files?
The Reuters news agency asked other former presidents:
A spokesman for former President
Barack Obama
told Reuters when asked about possible classified information that the National Archives had certified that nothing of the sort existed.
The
George W. Bush administration
"turned over all presidential filings -- both classified and unclassified -- upon exiting the White House," Bush spokesman Freddy Ford told Reuters.
Former President
Jimmy Carter
did not receive a letter from the National Archives because the Presidential Records Act did not come into effect until after he left office.
The National Archives have been criticized by Republicans, who accuse them of a lack of transparency about the documents.
In any case, the scandals also show this: America's system of secrecy can no longer cope with the flood of documents.
mgo/AP/Reuters
