New reports expose how Trump may have repeatedly broken the law during his presidency. These violations could be punishable by fines or imprisonment – or perhaps even disqualify him from holding public office again.

According to his former staffers, Trump had a habit of indiscriminately tearing up documents – like “briefings and schedules, articles and letters, memos both sensitive and mundane.” [1] This may be a violation of the Presidential Records Act, which was enacted after Richard Nixon’s presidency to prevent another Watergate-style cover-up.

If the Department of Justice investigates Trump’s actions and determines that he broke this law, he could face serious legal consequences.

As one of the ex-president’s former staffers put it: “[Trump] didn’t want a record of anything. He never stopped ripping things up.”

Another senior official noted that he and other White House staffers were regularly told to put torn-up documents into “burn bags” to be destroyed. Later, teams would have to dump the bags out and put pieces back together like a jigsaw puzzle to figure out what needed to be saved.

The Presidential Records Act was passed specifically to prevent this kind of dangerous behavior. But thanks to Trump’s blatant disregard for the law, we will never have a full record of his presidency.

Add your name if you agree that the Justice Department needs to investigate Trump’s document destruction – and that if he violated the law, he must be held accountable.

1) https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/05/trump-ripping-documents/