Trump dismisses as 'Fake News' reports feds demanded White House docs, he 'flushed' papers

Former President Trump on Thursday morning dismissed as "Fake News" recent news reports that federal officials went to his Florida residence to recover White House documents suspected of including classified information. 

"The media's characterization of my relationship with [the National Archives and Records Administration] is Fake News," Trump said in a statement. "It was exactly the opposite! It was a great honor to work with NARA to help formally preserve the Trump Legacy." 

The statement also says NARA "openly and willingly" arranged with Trump for "the transport of boxes that contained letters, records, newspapers, magazines and various articles" from Mar-a-Lago following "collaborative and respectful discussions."

Mainstream media reports in recent days stated NARA was concerned that the former president was in possession of classified information including letters sent from North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.

According to the New York Times, NARA collaborated with the Justice Department in its effort to reclaim the materials from Trump and examine the former president's handling of the White House records. 

"In actuality, I have been told I was under no obligation to give this material based on various legal rulings that have been made over the years," Trump also said in a statement. 

He also dismissed a claim made in a forthcoming book by The New York Times' Maggie Haberman, a White House correspondent during the Trump era.

Haberman claims White House staffers periodically found globs of printed paper clogging toilets and believed the then-president had flushed the documents.

"Another fake story that I flushed papers and documents down a White House toilet," Trump wrote, "categorically untrue and simply made up by a reporter in order to get publicity for a mostly fictitious book."