President-elect Donald J. Trump said on Monday that he plans to replace the head of the National Archives, the agency whose leaders’ concerns about Mr. Trump’s decision to hang on to boxes of documents after he left office ultimately led to a federal indictment.
Mr. Trump made the comments in a brief phone interview with the radio host Hugh Hewitt, hours before his Electoral College win was set to be certified in a joint session of Congress.
Mr. Hewitt told Mr. Trump that his “problems” with the so-called documents case happened, in Mr. Hewitt’s assertion, because the archivist at the time “hated you.” The case eventually led to Mr. Trump’s being charged by the special counsel Jack Smith with mishandling classified documents and obstructing the Justice Department investigation.
“I think I can tell you that we will get somebody — yes,” Mr. Trump said, chuckling. “We will have a new archivist.”
Colleen Shogan, the current national archivist, was not involved in the criminal investigations into Mr. Trump’s handling of classified documents, and a letter expressing concerns about his actions was written by her predecessor, who was then serving in an acting role. Ms. Shogan, the first woman appointed to her position, began her post at the National Archives in May 2023. It is common for a national archivist to span across presidential administrations.
The National Archives alerted the Justice Department in early 2022 about potential issues with Mr. Trump’s handling of classified documents after the agency learned that he had taken more than a dozen boxes of presidential records, including classified documents, with him to Mar-a-Lago, his private residence and club in Florida, after he left office.