Acting archivist, inspector general for National Archives forced out

The acting archivist of the United States and several senior staff members at the National Archives and Records Administration have resigned, marking the latest departures at a typically nonpolitical agency that has been the target of President Donald Trump’s ire since its attempts to recover presidential documents from his Florida home.

A source familiar with the situation said that the acting archivist, William J. Bosanko, and the agency’s inspector general, Brett M. Baker, decided to retire and that several other senior officials resigned after Trump officials made it clear they wanted to remove the agency’s leadership team and install loyalists. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters.

Among those sending that message to National Archives staff was Jim Byron, president and CEO of the Richard Nixon Foundation. Byron has been working with the White House on Archives-related matters. On Sunday, Trump said on Truth Social that he was appointing Byron as senior adviser at Archives to Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, whom he named in early February to lead the agency temporarily. “Jim will manage the National Archives on a day-to-day basis, while we continue our search for a full-time Archivist,” Trump’s post said.

The White House and the National Archives did not respond to the Washington Post’s requests for comment.

The agency, known for housing many of the country’s founding documents and overseeing presidential libraries, also plays an important role in certifying constitutional amendments and overseeing the preservation of presidential records.

With a tenure that lasted about a week, Bosanko appears to be the shortest-serving archivist since the role was created in 1934. Bosanko had been deputy archivist of the United States, rising through the ranks of the Archives over three decades. He took over the acting role after archivist Colleen J. Shogan was fired by Trump in Early February.

In an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt in early January, Trump had signaled his intent to replace Shogan, citing the Archives’ role in efforts to retain presidential documents from his first term in office.

In 2022, the National Archives became a public target of Trump’s anger when the agency sought documents from his Mar-a-Lago estate. When representatives recovered 15 boxes from Trump’s home in January 2022, officials found a mess of disorganized papers lacking any inventory.

Highly classified material was mixed in with newspaper clippings and dinner menus. And Archives officials believed more items were still missing.

The Archives then took the extraordinary step of referring the matter to the FBI – sparking a high-profile investigation that led to an August 2022 raid at the estate, which yielded classified material.

Shogan, however, was not the head of the Archives at the time the agency was dealing with the document recovery efforts. Her first Senate confirmation hearing took place in September 2022 – about six weeks after the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago search. She was confirmed by the Senate in May 2023 with all but three Republican senators opposing her nomination.

Trump had repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in refusing to turn over documents, at times suggesting that the records were his and should not be returned to the Archives.

Federal prosecutors, in an investigation led by special counsel Jack Smith, charged Trump with illegally hoarding classified documents from his presidency and conspiring with aides to cover up his actions. He faced 40 charges in total, but a judge last year dismissed the federal indictment against Trump.

Smith resigned from the Justice Department just before Inauguration Day. Late last month, the Justice Department fired more than a dozen officials who worked on Smith’s investigations into Trump’s criminal cases.

The exits at the Archives are among the Trump administration’s latest attempts to reshape the federal government and purge federal employees. Attempted changes have included mass layoffs, a sweeping buyout offer, a purge of inspectors general across multiple agencies and the gutting of agencies altogether.

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Jacob Bogage, Hannah Natanson, Jacqueline Alemany and Isaac Arnsdorf contributed to this report.