WASHINGTON — The National Archives has informed former President Donald Trump that it will turn over records from former Vice President Mike Pence to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
In a one-page letter, National Archivist David Ferriero said Tuesday that the agency will provide the congressional panel with "Vice Presidential records" that Trump is seeking to shield as privileged documents.
Ferriero said the records will be delivered March 3 unless a court intervenes.
Asked for comment Wednesday, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the chairman of the Jan. 6 committee, said he had not seen the letter.
The National Archives recently turned over hundreds of pages of Trump White House documents to the Jan. 6 committee. The records were provided after a monthslong court battle that culminated with the Supreme Court’s decision last month to reject Trump’s efforts to block their release.
The records agency said Tuesday that some of the documents in its possession from the Trump administration had been ripped up by the former president and needed to be taped back together by government officials.
“These were turned over to the National Archives at the end of the Trump administration, along with a number of torn-up records that had not been reconstructed by the White House,” the agency said in a statement.
The National Archives did not make it clear in its statement Tuesday whether some of the documents the committee received included the torn up and re-taped records.
The agency's letter to Trump is the latest sign that the Jan. 6 committee is obtaining more information from Pence's camp.
Marc Short, Pence's former chief of staff, testified before the committee last week, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Short, one of the highest-ranking Trump administration officials to meet with the panel, was with Pence in the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, when a pro-Trump mob stormed the building as Pence was presiding over the counting of the electoral votes in President Joe Biden's victory in November 2020.
