As the National Archives and Records Administration asked former President Donald Trump to return any missing White House documents he might have with him, a conservative activist told Trump he should keep the records, according to a new report. Tom Fitton, president of the conservative activist group Judicial Watch, argued to Trump that the White House records belonged to him and that he should not let the National Archives and Records Administration “harass” him to return the documents, according to CNN. report citing three anonymous sources. “Once Tom got in the boss’s ear, it was all downhill from there,” a source close to Trump told CNN. Fitton cited a 2012 case involving Judicial Watch and an effort to obtain tapes from former President Bill Clinton’s tenure to argue that documents from his tenure belong to the former president, CNN reported. Judicial Watch and Fitton did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Fitton began talking to Trump after NARA said in February that it recovered 15 boxes from Mar-a-Lago in mid-January. If NARA came back for more records, Fitton told Trump he didn’t have to cooperate, the sources told CNN. Trump soon became convinced that the documents he turned over to NARA and those left behind at his Mar-a-Lago residence belonged to him, the sources said. They were additionally recovered from Mar-a-Lago in June after the Justice Department, which had been referred the matter after NARA found classified documents in the 15 boxes, issued a subpoena. On August 8 of this year the FBI executed a search warrant at Trump’s private club and home in Florida to recover additional material, including 11 sets of classified documents. Fitton did not confirm or deny the conversations with Trump in an interview with CNN, but said he has publicly maintained that the documents belonged to the former president. “I’ve been clear that President Trump is being abused here, and the Justice Department has changed its position on the Clinton case,” Fitton told CNN.
