--- ---  # President Trump's Transition Team Was Ordered to Preserve Documents: Report by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jun 16, 2017 2:19 PM UTC  National Security Adviser Michael Flynn sits before U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hold a joint press conference at the White House on February 10, 2017 in Washington, DC. Mario Tama—Getty Images National Security Adviser Michael Flynn sits before U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hold a joint press conference at the White House on February 10, 2017 in Washington, DC. Mario Tama—Getty ImagesMario Tama—Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jun 16, 2017 2:19 PM UTC The Trump transition team has been instructed to save documents related to the ongoing investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election, the [New York _Times_](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/16/us/politics/trump-transition-team-russia-inquiry.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&%5Fr=1) reports. The transition team’s general counsel’s office reportedly sent a memo to members of the transition team, ordering them to preserve “any physical and electronic records that may be related in any way to the subject matter of the pending investigations,” [according to the report.](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/16/us/politics/trump-transition-team-russia-inquiry.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&%5Fr=1) Information on former campaign manager Paul Manafort, former adviser Carter Page, former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, business partner of Manafort’s Rick Gates, and Roger Stone, who is called an informal Trump adviser in the document, is also being sought in the memo. The men named in the memo have been at times linked to the investigations into Russian meddling. The _Times_ reports that the internal memo indicates that any failure to preserve documents could result in criminal or civil penalties and “could form the basis of legal claims, legal presumptions, or jury instructions relating to spoliation of evidence.” President Trump has continued to blast the investigation into Russian meddling as a “[witch hunt](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/875682853585129472)” that has so far failed to produce any evidence that he colluded with Russians. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/875682853585129472) \[[NYT\]](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/16/us/politics/trump-transition-team-russia-inquiry.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&%5Fr=1) Donald Trump Transition Team Ordered to Preserve Documents ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4821411/donald-trump-transition-russia/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4821411/donald-trump-transition-russia/"},"headline":"President Trump's Transition Team Was Ordered to Preserve Documents: Report","datePublished":"2017-06-16T14:19:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T16:11:14.533Z","description":"\"Any physical and electronic records that may be related in any way to the subject matter of the pending investigations.\"","url":"https://time.com/4821411/donald-trump-transition-russia/","keywords":["Donald Trump","White House","Russia Investigation"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6c003b9ac4615baf/6988d200cf40a831e8c48288/gettyimages-634600128.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6c003b9ac4615baf/6988d200cf40a831e8c48288/gettyimages-634600128.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trump Holds Joint Press Conference With Japanese PM Shinzo Abe","caption":"President Trump Holds Joint Press Conference With Japanese PM Shinzo Abe","creditText":"Mario Tama—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4821411/donald-trump-transition-russia/","name":"President Trump's Transition Team Was Ordered to Preserve Documents: Report"}}]}] ```