Photos suggest Trump blocked toilets with ripped-up White House documents

Claims that Donald Trump periodically blocked up White House and other drains with wads of paper appear to be borne out in photographs leaked ahead of the publication of a new account of the 45th presidency.

On Monday, Axios published photos of folded-up paper, marked with Trump’s telltale handwriting, using his favored pen, a Sharpie, submerged at the bottom of various toilet bowls.

The photographs were released in advance of the publication of Confidence Man, a book by the Trump White House correspondent for the New York Times, Maggie Haberman, set for October.

Trump, described by Axios as “a notorious destroyer of Oval Office documents”, was the alleged flusher. But photographs of presidential White House toilet document dumps are possible evidence of a violation of the Presidential Records Act.

According to Haberman, the disposals occurred multiple times at the White House, and on at least two foreign trips. Most words are illegible, but one name that is clearly visible is that of the New York Republican congresswoman and potential 2024 running mate Elise Stefanik.