the department told the national archives to have its inspector general exam in the matter, the person said. it is unclear what the inspector general has done since then, in particular, whether the inspector general has referred the matter to the justice department. and inspector general is required to alert the justice department to the discovery of any classified materials that were found outside of authorized government channels. joining us now on this breaking news is reid j. epstein, national politics reporter for the new york times. he is one of the reporters working on the story tonight. read, what can you tell us about the route archives has discovered? well, lawrence, we don t know the extent of what s classified materials are in the boxes. we know that the archives, part
the white house, as he left office, according to a person briefed on the matter. the discovery, which occurred after mr. trump returned 15 boxes of documents to the government last month, prompted the national archives to reach out to the justice department for guidance, the person said. the department told the national archives to have its inspector general exam in the matter, the person said. it is unclear what the inspector general has done since then, in particular, whether the inspector general has referred the matter to the justice department. and inspector general is required to alert the justice department to the discovery of any classified materials that were found outside of authorized government channels. joining us now on this breaking news is epstein, national politics reporter for the new york times. he is one of the reporters working on the story tonight. read, what can you tell us
on the matter. the discovery prompted the national archives to reach out to the justice department for guidance. the person said, the department told the national archives to have its inspector general exam in the matter. the times doesn t know what s happened next. meanwhile, the washington post, which first reported the national archives referral to the justice department, also reports that these discussions between the two agencies are preliminary. it s not yet clear whether the justice department will investigate this. what does it take to decide whether trump s record-keeping regiment breaks the law? joining us now is cohen, a former associate counsel. and then, general counsel for budget during the obama administration. miss cohen, thank you for being here tonight. i assume that you are well briefed on what you are supposed to and not supposed to do with documents. not just for the president, but in these jobs that you have worked in. it is pretty clear. i mean . it has to be pre
now, within the past hour, we got word from the new york times about what could have prompted the national archives to take that step. here s the headline. archives found possible classified material in boxes returned by trump. quote, the national archives and records administration discovered what it believed was classified information in documents that donald j trump had taken with him from the white house as he left office. according to a person briefed on the matter. the discovery prompted the national archives to reach out to the justice department for guidance. the person said, the department told the national archives to have its inspector general exam in the matter. the times doesn t know what s happened next. meanwhile, the washington post, which first reported the national archives referral to the justice department, also reports that these discussions between the two agencies are preliminary. it s not yet clear whether the justice department will investigate this.