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Fact-Checking the AP's Fact-Check on the 30 Million Classified and Unclassified Presidential Records Obama Moved to Chicago
The AP failed to read the communication between NARA and Obama and instead reported on the administration's press release that everything was fine.
I’ve received a LOT of pushback from the left about my post describing the conflict between the Obama Foundation and the National Archives over his presidential records.1 In my post, I contend that a fair reading of the various MOUs, LOIs, and settlement letters between the National Archives and Obama’s Foundation makes it clear that there was (and is still) a great deal of conflict between the parties.
One particularly thoughtful critique of my post pushed back against my thesis commenting, “According to AP, the documents have been in NARA's possession since Day 1. Anything that was moved was NARA's choice. I trust AP much more than most media outlets. They also say this particular story is a myth.”
I can’t help but point out that the Associated Press (AP) hasn’t done much if any investigation into the conflict between NARA and Obama. First, like most 'fact-checkers’ the AP’s fact-checker in this case is very inexperienced. In fact, Graph Massara has only been a ‘fact-checker’ for six short months.2 Massara is a trans-activist3 based in San Francisco and almost all of his coverage is supportive of Democrats and critical of Republicans.4 Ironically, Massara believes his fact-checks are ‘apolitical’ as he pointed out in a recent Tweet sharing his frustration with his male colleagues ‘shit-talking’ about sports.
Reading Massara’s AP fact-check it is clear he didn’t do any independent reporting but instead relied on press releases issued by the National Archives to declare these two facts “FALSE”:
Obama took 30 million documents to Chicago upon leaving the White House
Many of the 20 million documents taken to Chicago were classified
First, the decision to house Obama’s presidential records in the former Plunkett Furniture showroom outside of Chicago was made by the President of the United States and not NARA. Obama’s presidential records were safely stored in a DC-area National Archive facility where they could be processed, documented, and scanned. When and if President Obama built a presidential library they would be transported there where the processing, documentation, and scanning could be completed (if necessary). Instead, and against the advice and wishes of NARA, Obama ordered NARA to sign a six-year $12 million lease for the former Plunkett Furniture showroom in the Chicago suburbs. Then just two months before leaving office he ordered NARA to relocate 30+ million presidential records from the DC-area NARA facility to the newly leased building outside of Chicago. Obama wanted to get his documents out of NARA’s sphere of influence as his team feared Trump would install his own National Archivist who might not respect Obama’s privacy.
Once Obama left office and could no longer call the shots at NARA, the agency began taking steps to retrieve the documents the former president had ordered removed. Within months of ordering NARA to load his presidential records on 40 tractor-trailers for delivery to the Chicago suburbs, the Obama Foundation informed NARA that the president was breaking with tradition and would not build a presidential library. Instead, the former president notified NARA in the Spring of 2017 that he was building a presidential center and museum that would be privately owned and operated and would not house Obama’s presidential records.5
Obama’s September 11, 2018 letter to the Archivist supports reports that the former Plunkett Furniture showroom was ‘NARA-controlled’ in name only. As far as NARA was concerned they wanted nothing to do with the facility. The 2018 letter reveals that even Obama admitted that the Hoffman Estates building wasn’t NARA-controlled as they agree to transfer NARA $3,300,000 to pay for the move of the classified and unclassified documents to a NARA-controlled facility.6 The letter also seems to admit that the Hoffman Estates building did NOT ‘conform ot the agency’s archival storage standards’.
More than two years after Obama’s presidential records were transported to the Hoffman Estates facility the parties were still negotiating the details of improvements the former furniture facility would require. NARA agreed to allow Obama’s vendor to scan his unclassified records in the Hoffeman Estates facility on the condition that the facility be upgraded at Obama’s expense. The February 15, 2019 Memorandum of Understanding details much of the negotiations that began the prior year in 20187:
Second, Section (7) of the September 11, 2018 letter from the Obama Foundation to David Ferriero the Archivist of the United States confirms that the 30 million presidential records removed from the DC-area NARA facility to the Plunkett facility included BOTH classified and unclassified documents:8
The National Archive’s website also alludes to the fact that it relocated the classified files that were sent to the Plunkett facility back to the National Archives in College Park, MD:
In conclusion, the AP’s ‘fact-check’ is less accurate than the original claim. First, to be clear, Obama’s +/-30 million presidential records were transported by NARA to the former Plunkett Furniture showroom leased by NARA at then-President Obama’s request. It is accurate to say that Obama took his presidential records to Chicago - clearly he didn’t personally move 30 million documents but instead ordered NARA to do so. Second, documents drafted by the Obama Foundation and National Archives make it clear that the +/-30 million documents included BOTH classified and unclassified documents.
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@amuse (formerly Politique Republic) is a newsletter dedicated to the political issues facing America from a conservative viewpoint.