Former aide noticed Trump tearing up paperwork, per Jan. 6 panel deposition  

A former White Home aide instructed the Home choose committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol assault that he noticed former President Trump tearing up paperwork, in line with audio information of his deposition obtained by CBS Information.  

“Did the president tear up notes when he was completed with them?” Jan. 6 counsel Dan George requested former aide Nick Luna, per a transcript of the deposition.

“Sure. I imply, at instances. I don’t know. Did I ever see him tear up notes? I don’t know what the paperwork had been, however there [was] tearing,” Luna stated.  

Pressed additional on whether or not he’d seen the president “not less than typically” tear up papers when he was completed with them, Luna replied, “Sure, sir, that’s right.”  

The Presidential Information Act requires that any paperwork and supplies associated to the president’s political actions be fastidiously preserved and turned over to the Nationwide Archives on the finish of the administration. Eradicating, destroying or tampering with the data can include vital penalties.

The audio comes amid a probe into Trump’s dealing with of presidential data throughout and after his presidency, after the FBI earlier this yr seized labeled paperwork from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.

Luna served as Trump’s private assistant — his “physique man” — throughout his tenure within the White Home and was reportedly with the previous president on Jan. 6 as he took a cellphone name with then-Vice President Mike Pence from the Oval Workplace. 

The Jan. 6 panel subpoenaed Luna for his shut proximity to Trump surrounding Jan. 6 and his reported presence in the course of the Pence name, throughout which Trump allegedly pressured the vice chairman to withstand certifying the 2020 presidential election outcomes. 

Luna appeared earlier than the Jan. 6 committee earlier this yr.