WASHINGTON -- A congressional oversight committee on Thursday said the Justice Department is "obstructing" its investigation into former President Donald Trump's handling of White House records by preventing the release of information from the National Archives.
The House Committee on Oversight and Reform sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland accusing the Justice Department of impeding the panel's expanded investigation into the 15 boxes of White House records that Trump took to his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida after leaving office last year. The Archives in February revealed it had found classified material in the boxes and referred the matter to the Justice Department.
The letter from Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., the chairwoman of the Oversight Committee, outlines communications between the committee and the National Archives that took place between February and late March.
In those letters, Maloney made a series of requests for information she said the committee needs to determine if Trump violated federal records laws over his handling of sensitive and even classified information. In response, the general counsel for the archivist wrote on March 28 that "based on our consultation with the Department of Justice, we are unable to provide any comment."
"By blocking [the archives] from producing the documents requested by the Committee, the Department is obstructing the Committee's investigation," Maloney wrote in the letter released Thursday.
The House's oversight panel has repeatedly cited its authority to investigate matters involving the Presidential Records Act, which was enacted in 1978 after former President Richard Nixon wanted to destroy documents related to the Watergate scandal.
Federal law bars the removal of classified documents to unauthorized locations.