'Beautiful mind paper boxes': Trump aides reportedly mocked his attachment to classified records
Donald Trump's employees frequently referred to his boxes of documents as his "Beautiful Mind" material because of the former president's attachments to documents that boosted his own sense of security, according to the New York Times.
Those close to Trump referenced "The Beautiful Mind," a movie that features a schizophrenic character who plasters newspaper clippings to the wall, because of Trump's known attachment to carrying the keepsakes wherever he went, according to reporters Maggie Haberman, Alan Feuer and Michael S. Schmidt.
They write that Trump's obsession with the presidential materials is at the heart of the federal indictment he now faces.
"The phrase had a specific connotation. The aides employed it to capture a type of organized chaos that Mr. Trump insisted on, the collection and transportation of a blizzard of newspapers and official documents that he kept close and that seemed to give him a sense of security," the Times story says. "One former White House official, who was granted anonymity to describe the situation, said that while the materials were disorganized, Mr. Trump would notice if somebody had rifled through them or they were not arranged in a particular way. It was, the person said, how 'his mind worked.'"
The report picks up on key allegations from the indictment that show how everyone in Trump's orbit was aware of his obsession with the classified records.
"When one employee asked the other if some could be moved to storage, the second employee, identified by multiple people as Mr. Trump’s former assistant Molly Michael, replied, 'Woah!! Ok so potus specifically asked Walt for those boxes to be in the business center because they are his ‘papers,''" the article states. "At another point, she used the phrase 'the beautiful mind paper boxes' in a text message, the indictment says."
The report further states that Trump's decision to cling to the boxes is characteristic of his behavior.
The action "appears to be in keeping with a long pattern of behavior," according to the Times, which noted he always kept news clippings and more.