Inside the treasures of the National Archives
One week aft President Trump fired the caput of the National Archives and Records Administration, the second-in-command, the lawman archivist, has informed colleagues of his intent to retire, a root acquainted with the concern confirmed to CBS News Friday.
William "Jay" Bosanko served arsenic main operating serviceman for the National Archives erstwhile the FBI served a hunt warrant connected Mar-a-Lago successful August 2022 successful bid to prehend boxes of Trump records, including classified material, that the bureau said had not been decently transferred to the Archives astatine the decision of Mr. Trump's archetypal term.
Mr. Trump was federally indicted in the lawsuit successful June 2023, but pursuing a agelong ineligible saga, the charges were formally dismissed earlier this week. Mr. Trump has been publically captious of the National Archives since the lawsuit was brought.
Bosanko besides held the aforesaid presumption when it was revealed in January 2023 that classified documents were recovered astatine the Delaware location of then-President Joe Biden, on with astatine the Penn Biden Center. No transgression charges were brought successful that case.
Bosanko has worked for the National Archives since 1993, and has served arsenic lawman archivist since December 2023. In that role, helium runs the day-to-day operations of the agency.
"When an idiosyncratic controls the records, they power the story," Bosanko said successful an interrogation with "60 Minutes" past September. "They power what the American radical tin cognize oregon not cognize astir their presidency."
He besides reflected connected what helium believes is mislaid erstwhile statesmanlike records are not transferred astatine the extremity of an administration.
"That strikes astatine the precise bosom of the humanities record, the completeness of it, the quality to recognize decisions," Bosanko said. "And truthful it's important for historians, and yet the American radical to recognize each of the pieces that came successful and made up that determination making."
On Feb. 7, the White House announced that it had dismissed National Archivist Collen Shogan, the nation's apical grounds keeper, and installed Secretary of State Marco Rubio arsenic her acting replacement.
Bosanko, arsenic lawman archivist, would person been successful enactment to service arsenic acting caput of the agency.
Aliza Chasan, Norah O'Donnell and Kathryn Watson contributed to this report.