Administration

Trump required staff to sign nondisclosure agreements that last past his presidency: report

by Jacqueline Thomsen

President Trump required senior White House staffers to sign nondisclosure agreements that extend past his presidency, according to a reported column in The Washington Post.

The Post’s Ruth Marcus reported on Sunday that the staffers were required to sign the agreements during the early months of Trump’s presidency, promising not to share confidential information at the risk of penalty.

One person who signed the agreement said it was similar to those signed during the campaign and transition.

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“I remember the president saying, ‘Has everybody signed a confidentiality agreement like they did during the campaign or we had at Trump Tower?’ ” the individual told the Post.

Some of the staffers were reportedly hesitant to sign the agreements, but did so after pressure from then-chief of staff Reince Priebus and the White House counsel.
 
Those staffers believed that it would be nearly impossible to enforce the agreements.

The source also told the Post that the agreement was supposed to extend past Trump’s time in office, a move the newspaper described as “extraordinary.”

A draft of the agreement penalized staffers $10 million, to be paid to the federal government, for sharing confidential information.

That information was defined as “all nonpublic information I learn of or gain access to in the course of my official duties in the service of the United States Government on White House staff,” including “communications … with members of the press” and “with employees of federal, state, and local governments.”

The Post noted that the $10 million penalty was likely lowered in the final agreements, as other sources did not recall the same figure.

The agreement blocked the sharing of confidential information in any form, including “the publication of works of fiction that contain any mention of the operations of the White House, federal agencies, foreign governments, or other entities interacting with the United States Government that is based on confidential information.”

The White House did not return the Post’s multiple requests for comment.

Trump said in an interview during his presidential campaign that he believed federal employees should sign nondisclosure agreements.