Trump tried to flush documents down toilet, upcoming book claims
Donald Trump would often try and flush documents down the toilet, a soon-to-be-published book from New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman has claimed.
Staff at the White House would periodically discover a toilet in the residence clogged with printed paper, the book claims.
Haberman also wrote the president would also flush documents on foreign trips.
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Donald Trump tosses a hat into the crowd at a rally in Texas. AP
The bizarre claims come as a congressional committee investigating Mr Trump have faced numerous obstacles in accessing documents from the previous administration.
Presidents are legally required to preserve all written communications during their time in office.
But when the committee investigating the January 6 riots requested documents, some arrived torn up and taped back together.
Other records, including all the phone calls Mr Trump made the day of the riot, have not been released.
Fifteen boxes of documents had to be retrieved for the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) from Mr Trump's Mar-a-Lago country club in Florida.
Among the files kept at Mar-a-Lago were correspondence with Kim Jong-un, and a map Mr Trump had altered himself to distort the path of Hurricane Dorian.
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Donald Trump has repeatedly falsely claimed to have won the 2020 election. AP
In a statement, Mr Trump disputed the "media's characterisation of my relationship with NARA" as fake news.
"The papers were given easily and without conflict and on a very friendly basis, which is different from the accounts being drawn up by the Fake News Media," he said.
"In fact, it was viewed as routine and 'no big deal'."
Mr Trump also denied the toilet flushing claims.
"Also, another fake story, that I flushed papers and documents down a White House toilet, is categorically untrue and simply made up by a reporter," he said.
"The Democrats are just using this and the Unselect Committee of political hacks as a camoflauge (sic) for how horribly our Country is doing under the Biden Administration."
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Donald Trump drew on a map to try and show Alabama was in the path of Hurricane Dorian. AAP
Speaking on The View, former Trump Communications Director Alyssa Farah said there is "quite a bit more to come" from Haberman's book.
"I still talk to some folks in Trumpworld, the ones who have not engaged in criminality," she said.
"The former president is terrified of Maggie Haberman's book."
She added that she saw Mr Trump tearing up documents during his time in the White House.
House Oversight Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney was scathing in her criticism of Mr Trump.
She tweeted that the former president's conduct involved "potential violations of criminal law".
"Removing or concealing government records is a criminal offense punishable by up to three years in prison," she said.
"Former President Trump and his senior advisors must be held accountable for any violations of the law."
Mr Trump's purported behaviour in the White House flies in the face of his public statements about Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Mr Trump frequently led chants of "lock her up" after revelations Ms Clinton used a private email server as secretary of state.
Responding to news of Mr Trump's purported propensity for document destruction, Ms Clinton had a droll response on Twitter.
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