The Justice Department on Wednesday responded to an email from a senior USAID official ordering remaining staffers to destroy documents.
The document shredding took place at the Ronald Reagan Building Tuesday.
Thousands of USAID workers were placed on administrative leave so the building is being cleared out.
“Shred as many documents first, and reserve the burn bags for when the shredder becomes unavailable or needs a break,” the email from USAID’s acting executive director, Erica Carr said.
“The only labeling required on the burn bags are the words “SECRET” and “USAID/(B/IO)” in dark sharpie if possible,” the email said.
The email was obtained by Propublica, Politico and CBS News.
NEWS: USAID staff have been instructed to clear out classified safes and personnel docs, per an email obtained by @CBSNews.
“Shred as many documents first, and reserve the burn bags for when the shredder becomes unavailable or needs a break,” the email reads. pic.twitter.com/h7xS6y7Wsv
— Sara Cook (@saraecook) March 11, 2025
In a response to a lawsuit filed by the American Foreign Service Association, the Justice Department said the USAID email about burning and shredding classified documents has been “seriously misapprehended.”
“Plaintiffs’ motions for a temporary restraining order1 in these cases assume, based on one out-of-context email, that USAID on March 11, 2025 conducted an indiscriminate purge of documents in its possession at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, DC, which Plaintiffs have depicted as a violation of federal law and of rules on spoliation of evidence pertinent to the instant actions. But Plaintiffs have seriously misapprehended the facts. Trained USAID staff sorted and removed classified documents in order to clear the space formerly occupied by USAID for its new tenant. The removed classified documents had nothing to do with this litigation. They were copies of documents from other agencies or derivatively classified documents, where the originally classified document is retained by another government agency and for which there is no need for USAID to retain a copy. Any documents pertaining to current classified programs were retained, as were all personnel records and any document that must be retained under the Federal Records Act (FRA). Moreover, USAID will not destroy any additional documents after March11, 2025, without first notifying Plaintiffs and providing an opportunity to raise the issue before this Court,” the DOJ wrote.
The DOJ continued, “Because USAID was not violating and will not violate the FRA and is not destroying evidence potentially relevant to this litigation, Plaintiffs’ motions lack any likelihood of success on the merits. Moreover, Plaintiffs have not established that they will suffer irreparable harm absent relief, especially given that USAID is no longer removing documents and will not resume any removal without first notifying Plaintiffs. And an order preventing Defendants from handling documents in accordance with applicable laws would hinder the Government’s supervision and management of its records (including classified records) and thus would not be in the public interest. For those reasons, the Court should deny Plaintiffs’ motions.”
On Tuesday evening White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said it’s “more fake news hysteria.”
“The USAID building will soon be occupied by CBP,” Anna Kelly said.
“This was sent to roughly three dozen employees. The documents involved were old, mostly courtesy content (content from other agencies), and the originals still exist on classified computer systems,” she said.
“More fake news hysteria!” she added.
The USAID building will soon be occupied by CBP.
This was sent to roughly three dozen employees. The documents involved were old, mostly courtesy content (content from other agencies), and the originals still exist on classified computer systems.
More fake news hysteria! https://t.co/MLP84Mvn0t
— Anna Kelly (@AnnaKelly47) March 11, 2025
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