February 7, 2022

Washington Post reporter Jacqueline Alemany told Morning Joe's Jonathan Lemire she is not sure of the impetus for this morning's report that the National Archives "actually had to retrieve multiple boxes, an out of the ordinary amount, from Mar-A-Lago from the former president last month.

"It could potentially have to do with January 6th, since there have been a lot of requests and the National Archives has been responsive to those requests to the January 6th committee. We ran it kind of by Stephanie Murphy's office," Alemany said.

"She is a panelist on the committee, who said while this behavior is not shocking, it might not necessarily impede the work of the committee, since they have a lot of sources and methods for getting their hands on various documents. So if they wanted something, they would potentially go to staffers or those who were with the former president, who could then document and lay out those records themselves."

She said there is no real enforcement mechanism for the Presidential Records Act.

"It is very rare and uncommon and challenging for the National Archives to then go out and punish a president for his failure to keep a comprehensive records management system in place. But, you know, this former president has set a lot of new precedents."

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