Assaulted at the Archives—And the White House Covered It Up

Allen Weinstein was allowed to resign from his post without punishment or public notice. He then went on to sexually assault again.

By Anthony Clark

Late in the afternoon of December 5, 2007, the reception room in the National Archives Building on Pennsylvania Avenue was full and noisy. Maryellen Trautman wasn’t wearing her hearing aid, and she was having trouble making out what some at the holiday party were saying. As the host, Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein, began his brief introductory remarks, Trautman sat down on a loveseat by herself. She wasn’t shy, she was just better in smaller groups.

When Weinstein walked toward her and said something, she wasn’t sure at first that he was addressing her. Weinstein, a diminutive, controversial historian of 70, spoke softly, attributed at the time to his Parkinson’s disease and his unassuming manner. He sat down next to her, still saying something that Trautman, a 64-year-old National Archives employee, couldn’t quite hear. She leaned closer.

“You’re the most beautiful woman in the room,” Weinstein seemed to whisper.

Trautman was certain she couldn’t have heard him correctly. “What?” she asked.

Weinstein invited her to talk in the hallway.

The Archives’ suite of high-level offices, known as Mahogany Row, is located along a hallway with reflective surfaces that make it even more difficult to talk, particularly when filled with guests spilling out of a reception. Weinstein’s faint words were bouncing around.

“Let’s go to my office,” he suggested.

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Source: The Daily Beast