US intelligence should assess the national security damage caused by former President Trump storing classified documents at his Florida resort, top House Democrats said.
House Intelligence Committee Chair Rep. Adam Schiff of California and House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York asked Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines for a full review on Monday’s FBI raid in a three-page letter.
According to a search warrant and property log unsealed Friday, the recovered materials span 45 categories, including 11 sets of classified documents ranging from “Confidential” to “Secret” to “Top Secret” and “TS/SCI documents,” Schiff and Maloney wrote.
“The unauthorized disclosure of Top Secret information would cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security,” the lawmakers said.
The lawmakers asked Haines’s office for a review of the former president’s handling of the seized materials in connection with the Department of Justice’s obstruction of justice and espionage investigation of Trump, according to the letter.
Schiff and Maloney specifically asked the DNI about reports that claimed the records included classified documents about nuclear weapons.
The lawmakers asked Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines for a review of the former president’s handling of the seized materials. Saul Loeb/Pool via AP
Police outside an entrance to former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate on Aug. 8. AP/Wilfredo Lee
The FBI removed 11 sets of classified documents from Trump’s home, ranging from “Confidential” and “Secret” to “Top Secret” and “TS/SCI documents.” AP/Wilfredo Lee“If this report is true, it is hard to overstate the national security danger that could emanate from the reckless decision to remove and retain this material,” they wrote.
Trump has said the materials seized from his home were declassified and implied that the FBI planted evidence during the raid.
