WASHINGTON — It was the setting for “National Treasure,” the movie in which Nicolas Cage’s character tries to steal the Declaration of Independence. It has long been among the most trafficked tourist destinations in the nation’s capital.
But what the National Archives and Records Administration has never been — until now — is the locus of a criminal investigation of a former president.
Yet that’s exactly where the agency finds itself after sending a referral to the FBI stating that 15 boxes recovered from former President Donald Trump’s Florida home in January contained dozens of documents with classified markings.
“I don’t think Donald Trump has politicized the National Archives,” said Tim Naftali, the first director of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum. “I think what Donald Trump did was cross red lines that civil servants had to respond to.”
Those government workers operate out of the public eye, behind the marble façade of the Archives building in downtown Washington. It’s there, beyond the Hollywood plotlines, where a crucial component of the federal bureaucracy resides, with dozens of employees acting as the custodians of American history, preserving records that range from the mundane to the monumental.
A closer look at the National Archives, its history and how it ended up in the middle of a political maelstrom:
A MASSIVE COLLECTION: The mission of the National Archives, founded by Congress in 1934, sounds straightforward: to be the nation’s record-keeper. It’s a daunting task that has grown only more complex over time.
While the Archives safeguards precious national documents such as the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, that’s only the public face of its sprawling collection, which spans 13 billion pages of text and 10 million maps, charts and drawings, as well as tens of millions of photographs, films and other records.
In addition to its work in Washington, the Archives oversees 13 presidential libraries and 14 regional archives across the country.
ARCHIVIST FOR A NATION: The Archivist of the United States is responsible for running the agency. The last-Senate confirmed leader was David Ferriero, who stepped down in April after serving 12 years under three presidents.
Ferriero recalled in an April interview with The Washington Post how he watched from the windows of the Archives building on Jan. 6, 2021, as the crowd of Trump supporters marched past on their way to breach the Capitol. He called it the worst day of his life.
More than a year later, he decided to retire, in part because of fears about the nation’s political trajectory.
“It’s important to me that this administration replace me,” he told the Post. “I’m concerned about what’s going to happen in 2024.”
His deputy, Debra Steidel Wall, is serving as the acting archivist while President Joe Biden’s nominee, Colleen Joy Shogan, awaits a Senate confirmation process this fall. The archivist serves in the role until deciding to retire.
‘NO SUCH THINGS AS MEMENTOS’: The Archives serves as the final resting spot for the work of every White House.
After the Watergate scandal and Nixon’s resignation, Congress passed a law in 1978 to ensure that all presidential records — written or electronic material created by the president, the vice president or any other member of the executive branch in an official capacity — are preserved and turned over to the Archives at the end of an administration. The law states that a president’s records are not his or her own, but are the property of the federal government.
When a new administration begins, White House staff receive a brochure on the law and step-by-step instructions on how to preserve records. The preservation requirements cover a wide range of items, including presents and letters from foreign leaders. “There are no such things as mementos,” said Lee White, the executive director of the National Coalition for History.
In addition, the law requires that even while in office, the president or any member of that administration must first seek the advice of the archivist before destroying any record, a practice Trump and his aides reportedly ignored throughout his four years in office.
