New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman released a pair of photos to corroborate reporting in her forthcoming book that White House staffers regularly found ripped-up printed paper clogging a toilet in the presidential residence during former President Trump’s administration.
The photos, shared with Axios on Monday, reportedly show small pieces of paper in a toilet in the White House and another from an overseas trip.
“That Mr. Trump was discarding documents this way was not widely known within the West Wing, but some aides were aware of the habit, which he engaged in repeatedly,” Haberman told the outlet.
Reports of Trump-era White House officials attempting to flush documents down toilets first surfaced in February, as reported in Haberman’s forthcoming book.
“You have to be pretty desperate to sell books if pictures of paper in a toilet bowl is part of your promotional plan,” a spokesperson for Trump 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.”
The National Archives confirmed in January that some of the documents it received from the Trump administration had been ripped up and taped back together.
Haberman has covered Trump for years, dating back to his time as a real estate mogul in New York City. Her new book on on the former president’s life debuts in October.