The Washington Times reports

The Aug. 8 search of former President Donald Trump’s home and the unprecedented criminal investigation into his possession of White House documents all began with David Ferriero, the now-retired national archivist who alerted the Justice Department after finding classified information in boxes he retrieved from Mar-a-Lago.  

Critics say Mr. Ferriero is a partisan who changed the rules to help excuse Secretary of State Hillary Clinton when she was under scrutiny for mishandling classified documents on her private, unsecured email server.

They also say the raid for a criminal investigation is just another politically motivated scheme to take down Mr. Trump, who remains popular among many voters and is weighing a 2024 White House bid. This time, the dispute is over the Federal Records Act. Trump supporters say it hardly warrants an investigation or raid of his home.

“They’ve tried every last argument from the emoluments clause down to Russian collusion, to bribery with impeachment, to saying he planned and coordinated the Jan. 6 riot,” Mike Howell, who runs the conservative Heritage Foundation Oversight Project, told The Washington Times. “Nothing has worked, and so you are left with ‘Let’s try the records retention one.’ That’s why we are here.”

Mr. Howell and other critics of the investigation question the political motives of Mr. Ferriero, who told The Washington Post that he timed his April retirement to ensure the Biden administration could pick his replacement. He said the Jan. 6, 2021, riot he witnessed from the window of his office near the Capitol was “the worst day of my life — the absolute worst.”

Mr. Ferriero could not be reached for comment. The National Archives media office told The Times, “The former Archivist is not available for this interview,” and referred to the protocol for transferring White House records to the National Archives when a president leaves office.

The now-retired national archivist said he became alarmed on Jan. 20, 2021, when he watched on television as then-President Trump exited the White House for the last time, followed by an aide carrying a box.

“I can remember watching the Trumps leaving the White House and getting off in the helicopter that day, and someone carrying a white banker box, and saying to myself, ‘What the hell’s in that box?’”

Mr. Ferriero relayed that story earlier this year, months after he began a tug of war with Mr. Trump over records that left the White House and ended up at Mar-a-Lago, records that Mr. Ferriero believes belong to the National Archives and Records Administration under the Presidential Records Act. 

Mr. Ferriero was able to retrieve 15 boxes from Mar-a-Lago this January after negotiations with Mr. Trump.

He found classified material among the papers taken from Mr. Trump’s residence and alerted the Department of Justice soon afterward, according to a letter he sent to the House Oversight and Reform Committee on Feb. 18.

“Because NARA identified classified information in the boxes, NARA staff has been in communication with the Department of Justice,” Mr. Ferriero wrote to committee Chair Carolyn Maloney, New York Democrat, and the top Republican on the panel, Rep. James Comer of Kentucky.

Mr. Ferriero’s call triggered a Justice Department investigation into Mr. Trump’s possession of government records. The department convened a grand jury and interviewed Mr. Trump’s top White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, and former White House deputy counsel Patrick Philbin about documents taken from the White House when Mr. Trump left office.

Read more

https://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/aug/18/fbi-raid-trumps-home-stems-wary-federal-record-kee/

Also read

Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero Reflects on His Tenure Upon Retirement

By Victoria Macchi | National Archives News
WASHINGTON, April 29, 2022 — After leading the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) for 12 years, Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero will retire this week.

The head of the agency reflected on his time at the agency in a recent interview with National Archives News.

The interview from April 22, 2022, has been edited here for length and clarity.

Confirmed in late 2009 during President Barack Obama’s first term, Ferriero joined the National Archives after a decades-long career leading the libraries of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Duke University. He left his position as head of the New York Public Library system to accept the appointment at NARA.

Ferriero has said he initially wasn’t sure about becoming the nation’s top archivist, but the Obama administration’s conviction that the National Archives had an important role to play in the Open Government Initiative tipped the scale in terms of what he felt he could bring to the organization.

That launched Ferriero on a journey as head of NARA through three Presidential elections, multiple major news events, and a protracted pandemic that required an overhaul in how the agency’s 44 facilities manage the records of the federal government while keeping employees safe.

Ferriero’s last day leading the National Archives will be April 30. The White House has not named its selection for the next Archivist of the United States.

Deputy Archivist of the United States Debra Steidel Wall will serve as acting head of the agency until a new Archivist is confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

More at

https://www.archives.gov/news/articles/archivist-ferriero-retirement