Trump dismisses head of the National Archives

President Donald Trump dismissed the head of the National Archives, a White House official said Friday night, following through on a vow last month to change the leadership atop the agency, which was involved in the criminal case that had accused Trump of mishandling classified documents.

White House director of presidential personnel Sergio Gor said on X that national archivist Colleen Shogan was dismissed Friday night at Trump’s direction.

“At the direction of @realDonaldTrump the Archivist of the United States has been dismissed tonight. We thank Colleen Shogan for her service,” Gor wrote.

Gor did not indicate who would take over Shogan’s position.

The National Archives did not provide a response when asked about Shogan’s dismissal, instead referring NBC News to the White House for comment. The White House did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

A post from a LinkedIn account seemingly belonging to Shogan acknowledged the termination.

“This evening, President Trump fired me. No cause or reason was cited. It has been an honor serving as the 11th Archivist of the United States. I have zero regrets – I absolutely did my best every day for the National Archives and the American people,” the post said.

Trump said in an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt last month that he intended to fire Shogan, saying: “We will have a new archivist.”

The National Archives played a key role in the criminal case against Trump, alerting the Justice Department in 2022 that Trump had potentially mishandled classified documents after the president failed to return records that the agency had requested, something presidents are required to do after departing office.

Shogan, who became national archivist in May 2023, was not leading the agency at the time of its involvement in the case.

Trump eventually returned some of the records but kept others, and investigators said they obtained security video in July 2022 showing Trump’s aides moving boxes of classified documents. The FBI later opened a criminal investigation into Trump, searching his Mar-a-Lago residence and finding 11 additional sets of documents. 

Trump, who was the first former president charged with federal crimes, pleaded not guilty to any wrongdoing. 

The Trump-appointed federal judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the case last year, arguing the DOJ’s special counsel Jack Smith had been unconstitutionally appointed. Smith appealed the dismissal but wound down the case following Trump’s election last year due to the Justice Department’s longstanding practice not to prosecute sitting presidents.

Since taking office last month, the Trump administration has dismissed a number of officials who have been involved in investigations against the president, firing several Justice Department career lawyers and senior FBI officials. Two groups of FBI agents who participated in investigations against him sued the DOJ on Tuesday, alleging a survey they were instructed to fill out about their roles was instead used to identify targets for dismissal.