Wilson cracked the joke in a tweet on Wednesday in response to the news that the FBI seized a dozen sets of highly classified material from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home last week. The tweet has amassed over 184,000 likes and hundreds of replies from fans of The Office, many of whom applauded the actor’s idea.
FBI Raid of Mar-a-Lago
The raid took place as part of an ongoing investigation into claims that Trump was improperly holding classified federal documents at his Florida home—a potential violation of the Espionage Act and other U.S. statutes.
Per the Presidential Records Act, former presidents are required to turn over all White House materials to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) upon leaving office. Trump, however, reportedly took 15 boxes of records with him in his move out of the White House.
Though he returned those boxes to the NARA earlier this year, there were still concerns that Trump possessed additional materials. In last week’s raid of Mar-a-Lago, federal agents seized 11 sets of records that were described as “Various classified/TS/SCI documents.” They also seized four sets labeled “top secret,” three sets labeled “secret” and three sets marked “confidential.”
As of Tuesday, the investigation is ongoing and Trump has not been charged with any crime.
Wilson’s Tweet
To prevent future presidents from walking away with classified documents, Wilson joked that NBCUniversal should help oversee the presidential transition of power.
“When The Office wrapped we were watched like hawks by NBC to make sure we didn’t take any props or mementos or keepsakes with us. The prop master was even threatened! Maybe NBC/Universal should oversee Presidents leaving the White House,” he tweeted.
In response, B.J. Novak, writer and co-executive producer of The Office, tweeted a photo of a set prop, writing: “Lock me up.”
Twitter Reacts
Commenters called Wilson’s idea “excellent” and many responded with their own Office-related jokes.
“Sounds good to me,” Tyler Ferguson wrote.
“Excellent idea,” Bhaskardancer said.
“This could’ve all been avoided if Secretary of State Toby Flenderson was overseeing the process,” Jeff Ermann joked.
“Dwight would have never let this happen,” Just Shannon commented.
Kevin Kleifgen added: “It’s not the worst idea…provided we get Jim and Dwight to film a classic prank war with POTUS in the West Wing.”
Newsweek reached out to Rainn Wilson’s representatives for comment.