Barack Obama‘s plans to cement his legacy hit another hurdle as Elon Musk‘s DOGE canceled the lease for a building in Chicago holding his presidential records.
It was the latest setback for the former president as he and his wife Michelle are fighting back against rumors of divorce.
The storage site being closed by Musk is at Hoffman Estates in the northwest of Chicago and is run by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
NARA began leasing the building in 2016, paying $1.4 million a year in rent, according to the General Services Administration.
It is separate from the 9.3-acre, $830 million Obama Presidential Center in the city’s south side, which is scheduled to open next year.
The Obama President Center has been jinxed from the start as it faces lawsuits, ballooning costs and construction delays.
NARA uses its temporary storage site for tens of millions of documents, classified records, and more than 35,000 artifacts and gifts accumulated by the Obama family during his eight years in office.
Gifts to a president are the property of the United States, per federal law. If a president wants to keep them they must pay full cost – otherwise the gifts go to the Archives for preservation.
Obama keepsakes in storage include a jeweled sword from Saudi Arabia, dresses worn by Michelle Obama at inaugural ceremonies, Barack Obama’s silver BlackBerry, and a baseball signed by the 2010 San Francisco Giants, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The items will be sent to a permanent site in College Park, Maryland, and occasionally lent to the Obama Presidential Center to be put on display.
The Obama Presidential Center – which is still being constructed after a series of problems – is a private venture being funded by the Obama Foundation, which is backed by donors.
But Obama’s records are the property of the federal government.
There are about 25 million unclassified paper documents at the Hoffman Estates building and they are being digitized. They will be available in digital format at the Obama Presidential Center when it opens.
Musk and President Donald Trump have been on a mission to cut the size and scope of the federal government.
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