Donald Trump had top secret nuclear paperwork stashed at his country club home and resort when the FBI retrieved the documents on August 8. The highly classified documents held in a private residence is unprecedented.
Security concerns were raised about the storage of top secret documents in a private residence which is reportedly what led to the FBI raid, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday. US intelligence agencies may now need to carry out rigorous risk assessments for the implications to national security following the FBI raid last month.
Documents were so secret, only the president and some high-level officials were authorised to see them. The report if accurate, discredits Trump and his allies’ defence that seized documents were harmless and whose sole basis was to be used in the former president’s memoir or presidential library.
It is unclear why a former president would need highly classified information at home. The Post said papers retrieved from Mar-a-Lago detailed information about the nuclear defence readiness of a foreign country.
It is not known which country this was. Since the raid, Trump’s staunchest defenders including Senator Marco Rubio - who represents the state of Florida, where Mar-a-Lago is based - have argued that it was simply a case of mishandling paperwork or a ‘records issue’.
The nuclear nature of the documents means it is now impossible for the Department of Justice (DOJ) headed up by US Attorney General Merrick Garland to look away. The Post suggests the DOJ is firmly positioned in the territory of ‘investigating the potential mishandling of classified materials’.
Trump could also be accused of the records act violation. Trump made his thoughts known about the FBI raid by vociferously denying the existence of any nuclear secrets in papers retrieved.
He claimed the raid was “a hoax” and suggested the FBI had planted the documents there. Changing tack and switching defence a few days’ later, Trump then said he had “personally declassified” the documents.
Trump could be in legal jeopardy if he is indicted. Conservative author Andrew McCarthy wrote on National Review that a Trump indictment is a strong possibility.
McCarthy said: “Former president Donald Trump is facing the very serious prospect of being indicted for obstruction of justice and causing false statements to be made to the government. That is the upshot of a court submission filed by the Justice Department on Tuesday night, in response to the Trump camp’s belated motion for the appointment of a special master to review materials seized three weeks' ago from the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate.”
Trump attacked the actions of the DOJ as “vicious” at a recent Pennsylvania rally and continues to be a vocal critic of the FBI raid - although he has never divulged the reason why he took top secret nuclear documents in the first place. The top secret documents from Mar-a-Lago will now be handed to a court-appointed special master.
This is unless the DOJ appeals a decision by Trump-appointed official, Judge Aileen Cannon to allow the new special master to review them for privileged information or files. The DOJ is said to be reviewing the options available and will act accordingly.
