An author who ghostwrote one of Trump's books speculates Trump may've taken White House documents to one day sell as presidential memorabilia
- A man who helped Donald Trump write a book has a theory why Trump may've taken White House records.
- Charles Leerhsen speculated Trump might've taken documents to sell as "presidential memorabilia."
An author who once helped Donald Trump write a book has a theory on why the former president might've taken some documents from the White House.
Charles Leerhsen, a ghostwriter who got contributing credit on the cover of Trump's book "Surviving at the Top," weighed in on the FBI's unannounced search of Mar-a-Lago on Monday.
The reason for the FBI raid wasn't immediately clear, thought reports indicated it was probably related to government documents that Trump may've brought to his Florida residence after leaving the White House. The National Archives asked the Department of Justice in February to investigate whether Trump broke the law by taking government records to Mar-a-Lago.
Leerhsen wrote on Facebook his theory about why Trump might've taken documents.
"As a former Trump ghostwriter (mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa) I feel obligated to point out that Trump may have taken documents that he intended to sell as presidential memorabilia," Leerhsen said.
Speaking with Newsweek, Leerhsen said he had seen how Trump earned his money even before going into politics, adding that the former president wasn't above "groveling." Leerhsen acknowledged, per Newsweek, that he didn't have firsthand knowledge about whether Trump took documents from the White House but speculated that Trump might've wanted to keep pieces of paper he signed or other collectible items.
Leerhsen and representatives for Trump didn't immediately respond to requests for comment from Insider.
"If there's a grift to be grifted, he's gonna grift it," Leerhsen told Newsweek. "He has this very basic sense that he might be able to pawn it off on someone."
He added that he once had a "firsthand sense" of Trump's "avariciousness and his personality."
"Like everyone else, I watched things get worse and spiral out of control," Leerhsen told Newsweek.