Trump wrote aide’s to-do lists on backs of classified docs: report

One of former President Trump’s assistants reportedly told federal investigators Trump wrote to-do lists on the backs of classified documents, according to an ABC News report.

ABC News, citing sources familiar with the matter, reported former Trump aide Molly Michael told investigators the former president wrote requests or tasks for her on the back of notecards, which she later realized were White House documents “with visible classification markings.” 

The documents were reportedly used to brief the former president about international matters and phone calls with foreign leaders, ABC News reported. Sources familiar with the matter told ABC News the notecards with classification markings were found during the FBI’s search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida last year, but they were not taken by the FBI. 

Michael reportedly said she went to Mar-a-Lago a day after the search and found the documents under a drawer organizer and transferred them to the FBI the same day, sources told ABC news.

According to the sources, Michael detailed to investigators her increased concerns over how Trump handled the multiple requests from the National Archives to return the documents to the White House. 

The sources said Trump allegedly told Michael, “You don’t know anything about the boxes,” after hearing the FBI wanted to interview his former aide last year. 

A Trump spokesperson denied the latest allegations in a statement to ABC.

The Presidential Records Act mandates all presidential materials are returned to the National Archives for preservation after the end of a White House tenure. 

Trump and his team returned some of the documents after receiving a subpoena from the Department of Justice (DOJ) for the classified documents, but when the FBI executed a search warrant last year at Mar-a-Lago, investigators found hundreds of documents that were marked as classified and kept at the property beyond Trump’s tenure in the White House. 

Trump initially faced 37 counts related to his handling of classified material, but a superseding indictment filed in July brought that total to 40 charges over allegations Trump attempted to delete surveillance footage at Mar-a-Lago. 

Before Trump was indicted in June and then again in July, The Washington Post reported correspondence from Michael reportedly gave the DOJ and FBI investigators more evidence of possible obstruction by Trump in the federal investigation. The Post reported investigators have evidence that Trump personally looked through the materials in an apparent attempt to hold on to some materials after receiving the DOJ’s subpoena. 

The Hill has reached out to the DOJ and Trump’s spokespeople for comment. 

—Updated Tuesday at 11:04 a.m.