Top House Democrats have requested a “damage assessment” from US intelligence officials after the FBI executed a search warrant on Trump’s property residence at Mar-a-Lago in search of top secret documents.
In the letter, sent by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff and House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, the lawmakers refer to the recently unsealed search warrant and a list of documents recovered from Trump residence.
“Those entrusted with access to classified information have a duty and obligation to protect it. However, a recently opened court-authorized search warrant and the inventory of property recovered from the Club Mar-a-Lago describe numerous classified documents in the possession of former President. Trump, including Shared Secret/Sensitive Information (TS/SCI) material, among the most sensitive and highly protected information of the US government,” it says the letter, addressed to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines.
“Former President Trump’s conduct has potentially placed our national security at serious risk,” the lawmakers continued.
Top House Democrats, including Adam Schiff, have requested a national security “damage assessment” of US intelligence officials days after the FBI carried out a warrant search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence for top-secret documents. Above, Schiff during the House Select Committee’s sixth hearing on the January 6 insurgency on June 28 in Washington, DC, Brandon Bell
Schiff and Maloney’s petition was first reported by Politico.
“While the Department of Justice’s investigation continues, ensuring that we take all necessary steps to protect classified information and mitigate the harm to national security caused by their engagement is of critical importance,” Maloney’s letter concluded, and Schiff.
Newsweek has reached out to Trump’s press office for comment.
The search warrant unsealed Friday by a federal judge revealed that Trump is under investigation for possibly violating the Espionage Act, a 1917 law that carries a penalty of a fine, up to 10 years in prison, or both for the mismanagement of defense information.
Trump and his allies have criticized the federal investigation into Trump’s possible mishandling of classified documents.
In a statement Friday, Trump said all documents involved in the investigation had been declassified, and his office issued a separate statement saying the former president had “a standing order that documents removed from the office oval and brought to the residence were considered to be disqualified”.
“Number one, it was all declassified. Number two, they didn’t need to ‘seize’ anything. They could have had it whenever they wanted without playing politics and breaking into Mar-a-Lago,” Trump wrote.
In a statement on Tuesday, Trump called the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago “an unprecedented violation of the rights of every American citizen.” He has also suggested that the FBI may have been planting evidence at the property.