It’s clear what the law is, it’s equally clear that they needed the originals to archive. If they could just print a copy then they wouldn’t have wasted their time taping documents back together.
In the link I just posted it says that the purpose of archiving isn't for quality but to blindly preserve records for 'discovery and use'.
https://www.govexec.com/management/2021/02/records-transfer-trump-white-house-underway/171770/When asked what it noticed about the quality of the records, NARA said the agency usually doesn’t make statements on quality, “but rather preserves [records] for discovery and use.” Also, “as with any body of records received by the National Archives, it takes a significant period of time for NARA to establish intellectual control and an understanding of the records.” NARA preserved all records under the Presidential Records Act, with few exceptions, such as holds for White House parking passes.
If there is a letter from a Senator that Trump ripped apart those torn pieces of paper are preserved as historical artifacts, for future discovery and use.
If he circled something on newspaper article, it is a historical artifact, and filed away for future discovery and use.
Ripping up a letter does not mean it was the only copy of the letter. As a federal agency there are strict archiving and backup laws on email and stored documents regardless of the Presidential Records Act. There are most likely lots of copies of everything given to the President.
In the same article it says that NARA is receiving over 500 terabytes of electronic records for documents from the Trump Whitehose that fall under the Presidential Records Act. It is pretty dishonest to claim from this that there were documents that were actually destroyed because letters were ripped apart.