A new report claims that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) instructed employees to “shred” and “burn” classified documents amid the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce the size of the agency and eliminate most USAID programs.
In an email obtained by NBC News, USAID Acting Executive Secretary Erica Carr thanked the agency’s employees for their “assistance in clearing our classified safes and personnel documents,” which was scheduled to begin on Tuesday. Carr reportedly told USAID employees, “Shred as many documents first, and reserve the burn bags for when the shredder becomes unavailable or needs a break.”
A picture of the USAID email was shared by Mike Benz, director of the Foundation for Freedom Online on X, formerly Twitter.
In a statement on social media, Benz described the destruction of USAID documents as a “five-alarm fire” and warned, “THIS MUST BE STOPPED!”
According to NBC News, an emergency motion to stop the shredding of USAID’s documents was filed by legal groups that have opposed the Trump administration’s attempt to shut down the agency. The motion said, “Defendants are, as this motion is being filed, destroying documents with potential pertinence to this litigation.”
“Although Plaintiffs do not know at this moment which records are being destroyed, the destruction of records may severely undermine the agency’s ability to function,” the motion added. “For example, destruction of records that contain information about the agency’s operations may make it extraordinarily difficult—if not impossible—to recreate and rebuild agency programming.”
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According to NBC News, a Trump administration official claimed that three dozen USAID employees were sent the controversial email regarding the destruction of USAID documents.
The Trump administration official stated, “No documents relevant to litigation are classified—therefore, they are not part of this directive. They are clearing out their building because it’ll be used by Customs and Border Patrol.”
“These are very old documents. They are in complete compliance with the Federal Records Act of 1950,” the official added. “Everyone involved in this process had a secret clearance or higher and was approved by the bureau of the documents that they were handling. A majority of the content is courtesy content. Most original copies are still in classified computer systems.”
In a joint status report filed after the emergency motion on Tuesday, the American Foreign Service Association and the Trump administration confirmed that the federal government would “not destroy additional documents stored in the USAID offices in the Ronald Reagan Building without affording notice to Plaintiffs and an opportunity to raise the issue with the Court.”
The joint status report explained that the Trump administration did not destroy “personnel records” during Tuesday’s purge of USAID documents and announced that the Trump administration would confirm “which documents were and were not destroyed” by Wednesday.
