The United States’ (US) Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) found classified records related to a foreign country’s nuclear defence readiness and military defences while conducting a search at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida last month.
According to the Washington Post, sources familiar with the search did not disclose the name of the foreign nation, nor did they say where at Mar-a-Lago were the documents found.
NEWWWS -- Details about nuclear capabilities of a foreign government were in records seized at trump's Mar-a-Lago in early August. As well as details of US programs so secret that seniormost natsec officials didn't know they existed.
— Carol Leonnig (@CarolLeonnig) September 7, 2022
me & @DevlinBarrett https://t.co/YmXKCigmEu
The fact that the documents seized could contain classified information related to “nuclear weapons, covert operations, spying and military sources and methods, and other government secrets” was also reported last month. Trump, however, suggested in an interview with Fox News that the FBI “could have planted anything they wanted,” as his staff were “asked to stand outside.”
Some of the materials seized also had details about top-secret American operations that only the president, members of his cabinet, or a near-cabinet-level official could grant access to other government officials. In fact, even senior national security officials in the Biden administration do not have access to them. Such classified records are cleared on a need-to-know basis and stored at secure facilities where an official can track them.
New reporting that Trump had highly classified information, including on foreign nuclear programs.
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) September 7, 2022
If true, it raises yet more questions.
Why would Trump take them to Mar-a-Lago?
Why did he refuse to return them?
The investigation must continue uninterrupted and unimpeded.
The FBI recovered over 300 documents this year, of which 184 were sent to the National Archives and Records Administration in January, a Trump lawyer gave another 38, and about 100 were found during the court-sanctioned raid on August 8.
One of Trump’s lawyers, Christopher Kise, criticised the news leaks, which he said “continue with no respect for the process nor any regard for the real truth. This does not serve well the interests of justice.”
On Monday, Trump accused the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FBI of being “totally corrupt,” alleging that they are “being pushed to do the wrong thing by many sinister outside sources.” He went on to call it “the latest witch hunt” on Tuesday, saying, “All American Patriots know that I always do everything “by the book” and that this Hoax will fail miserably just like the Russia, Russia, Russia Scam, Impeachment Hoax #1, Impeachment Hoax #2, and all other attempts, perpetrated by the same people, to weaponise Law Enforcement against the 45th President, me.”
Donald Trump was, and remains, a U.S. national security disaster.
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) September 7, 2022
Anyone else in America holding highly classified nuclear information at their residence would have been arrested and indicted. And Trump as ex-President doesn’t even have a security clearance. https://t.co/HtfX27ro9x
This came against the backdrop of Florida District Judge Aileen Cannon agreeing to appoint a special master to review all the 11,000 seized documents to address both attorney-client privilege and executive privilege on Monday. “In addition to being deprived of potentially significant personal documents, which alone creates a real harm, Plaintiff faces an unquantifiable potential harm by way of improper disclosure of sensitive information to the public,” she said in her ruling.
“As a function of plaintiff’s former position as president of the United States, the stigma associated with the subject seizure is in a league of its own,” Judge Cannon remarked.
However, legal experts have found her reasoning to be “deeply problematic.” Harvard Law School professor Ronald Sullivan asserted, “This court is giving special considerations to the former president that ordinary, everyday citizens do not receive.”
The DOJ had argued against appointing a special master, saying they were “unnecessary and would significantly harm important governmental interests, including national security interests.”
A Trump judge delivers for Trump in a big way. Delays now could lead to further chaos and mischief on his part. A big win for Trump. A big loss for accountability. News organizations should dive deep into what Trump did to politicize the federal judiciary.
— Dan Rather (@DanRather) September 5, 2022
Though Judge Cannon, who was appointed by Trump in November 2020, allowed the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to continue its assessment of the documents concerning the risk to national security, she blocked the DOJ from conducting any further investigation until the review was complete.
Following the judgement, Kise asserted, “The Court has provided a sensible path forward which does not include the selective leak of unverifiable and misleading information. There is no reason to deviate from that path if the goal is, as it should be, to find a rational solution to document storage issues which have needlessly spiralled out of control.”
In a statement on Monday, DOJ spokesman Anthony Coley said that the government “is examining the opinion and will consider appropriate next steps in the ongoing litigation.”