The big picture: The FBI seized highly sensitive documents during its search of former President Trump’s Florida residence on Monday, including some classified as “top secret.”
Trump on Friday afternoon said in a statement that “everything was declassified” and insisted they “didn’t need to ‘figure out’” anything. They could have had it at any time.” The Justice Department disputed his claims.
What they say: “Former President Trump’s conduct has potentially seriously compromised our national security,” Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Carolyn Maloney (DN.Y.) said in a letter to Avril Haines. director of national intelligence.
Unauthorized disclosure of highly classified information would cause “extremely serious harm to national security.” “Furthermore, at least one report indicates that the FBI’s investigation focused in part on highly classified documents ‘related to nuclear weapons,’ which are among our nation’s most closely guarded secrets,” the letter added. “If this report is true, it is difficult to overstate the risk to national security that could come from the reckless decision to remove and retain this material.”
Details: The FBI removed 11 sets of classified information, including:
“Miscellaneous Classified/TS/SCI Documents” — refers to documents containing “Top Secret” or “Sensitive Departmental Information”. 21 boxes of “miscellaneous confidential documents”, “miscellaneous classified documents” or “miscellaneous top secret documents”. The executive pardon for Trump associate Roger Stone, “Info re: President of France,” a leather-bound box of documents, two binders of photographs, and a handwritten note.
Go Deeper: The Mar-a-Lago Search Warrant Clues
