Donald Trump 'rips up official papers that aides have to tape together'
Ex-White House staff claim they were asked to repair records that the president ripped up as they have to be preserved by law.
Monday 11 June 2018 18:54, UK
Donald Trump regularly rips up official papers that White House staff have to tape back together to prevent him breaking the law, according to a US media report.
Former aides, who earned salaries of more than $60,000 (£45,000) a year, have claimed they were regularly asked to repair records that the US president had torn apart.
Solomon Lartey, who had nearly 30 years' experience as a government official, said he and his colleagues would sift through large piles of shredded paper and piece them together "like a jigsaw puzzle".
He told Politico that the documents included newspaper clips that Mr Trump had scribbled notes on and letters from politicians including Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer.
"I had a letter from Schumer - he tore it up," Mr Lartey said.
"It was the craziest thing ever. He ripped papers into tiny pieces."
Presidential records must be preserved and transferred to the national archives under US law which "places the responsibility for the custody and management of incumbent presidential records with the president".
Mr Lartey claimed his entire department was dedicated to the task of taping paper back together in the opening months of the Trump administration.
According to Politico, aides quickly realised they were unable to stop Mr Trump from ripping up paper after he was done with it and throwing it in the bin or on the floor.
Reginald Young Jr, who worked as a senior records management analyst, said it was the first time in more than two decades of government service that he had been given such a task.
"I'm looking at my director, and saying, 'Are you guys serious?'," Mr Young said.
"We're making more than $60,000 a year, we need to be doing far more important things than this."
Both Mr Lartey and Mr Young had their jobs terminated abruptly in the spring, Politico reported.
Questions have been raised about Mr Trump's compliance with the presidential records act when he has deleted tweets - which are covered by the law - and re-posted amended versions.
The White House has previously said that it has systems to preserve all tweets as presidential records, even deleted posts.
Mr Trump and the White House have not yet commented on the Politico report.