Newly published photos show paper documents, allegedly from President Donald Trump, in a toilet at the presidential residence and a commode on an overseas trip during his time in the White House.
The New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman released two images to Axios on Monday showing ripped-up wads of paper. In one photo, U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik’s last name is clearly seen in what appears to be Trump’s handwriting in Sharpie ink.
Haberman previously reported in February that White House staff had found dumped documents clogging toilets, a habit Trump allegedly began years before entering politics. Haberman said she recently obtained the pictures ahead of her upcoming book, “Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America.”
Trump previously denied the report of flushing documents, and a spokesperson for the former president claimed the photos were fake.
“You have to be pretty desperate to sell books if pictures of paper in a toilet bowl is part of your promotional plan,” the spokesperson told Axios. “We know ... there’s enough people willing to fabricate stories like this in order to impress the media class — a media class who is willing to run with anything, as long as it anti-Trump.”
Trump has previously been accused of regularly tearing up government documents in violation of the Presidential Records Act, which requires by law that they be kept for the historical record. The National Archives confirmed to The Washington Post in January that some of the Trump White House documents handed over to the House Jan. 6 committee were torn up and taped back together.
Stefanik, a Republican who represents New York’s 21st Congressional District in the North Country and Adirondacks and holds the No. 3 position in the GOP leadership, has not commented on the photos.
The New York Daily News notes Trump has been accused of mishandling records in other instances, including when he took documents marked “classified” with him to his Florida estate when he left office on Jan. 20, 2021.
Trump was held in contempt of court and fined $110,000 by a New York judge earlier this year for allegedly withholding evidence in response to a civil subpoena by state Attorney General Letitia James’ office. Trump is expected to testify soon in the long-running investigation into Trump and his real estate company, accused of misleading banks and tax authorities about the value of his assets.
The Trump administration was also accused of destroying evidence by Cassidy Hutchinson, a top aide in the White House, who told the House committee that she saw documents burned by former Tump chief of staff Mark Meadows during efforts to subvert the 2020 election results.
Haberman, who has regularly covered Trump since he was a New York real estate mogul and later a reality TV star, is scheduled to publish her new book “Confidence Man” on Oct. 4.
See the alleged Trump toilet photos at Axios.com.