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Federal intelligence agencies have announced plans to review documents that were seized during the August 8 raid of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
“The Department of Justice and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence are working together to facilitate a classification review of relevant materials, including those recovered during the search,” an ODNI spokesperson said in a statement. “ODNI will also lead an Intelligence Community (IC) assessment of the potential risk to national security that would result from the disclosure of the relevant documents.”
The Epoch Times reported:
The ODNI oversees 17 intelligence entities, including the CIA and the FBI. The current director of national intelligence is Avril Haines, a Biden appointee.
FBI agents seized classified materials from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Aug. 8, according to an inventory list agents gave to Trump lawyers. Agents also found classified materials in boxes of documents that were transferred from Mar-a-Lago to the U.S. government in January, according to an affidavit authored by an FBI agent that was made public on Friday.
Trump has said he declassified the materials. U.S. authorities are investigating Trump for possible violation of federal law, including a law governing the transmittal of national defense information.
The ODNI will “closely coordinate” with the Department of Justice (DOJ), which includes the FBI, to make sure the intelligence community assessment “is conducted in a manner that does not unduly interfere with DOJ’s ongoing criminal investigation,” the ODNI spokesperson said.
An ODNI policy says a damage assessment “shall be conducted when there is an actual or suspected unauthorized disclosure or compromise of classified national intelligence that may cause damage to U.S. national security.”
An assessment “may also be conducted when there is an actual or suspected loss, misuse, or unauthorized access to or modification of classified national intelligence that could adversely affect national security,” the policy also says.
Those plans may have to be put on hold after a federal judge announced Saturday her preliminary intent to appoint a special master, as requested by the attorneys for Trump, to review documents that the FBI took from Mar-a-Lago.
U.S. District Judge from the Southern District of Florida Judge Aileen M. Cannon said the decision was made based on submissions from the former president’s attorneys and “the exceptional circumstances presented.”
A hearing is set for Sept. 1 at 1:00 p.m. in West Palm Beach, Fla. Cannon also ordered the Justice Department to file a response by Aug. 30 and provide, “under seal,” a “more detailed Receipt for Property specifying all property seized pursuant to the search warrant executed on August 8, 2022.”
The current property receipt shows that FBI agents took approximately 20 boxes of items from the premises, including one set of documents marked as “Various classified/TS/SCI documents,” which refers to top secret/sensitive compartmented information.
Records covered by that government classification level could potentially include human intelligence and information that, if disclosed, could jeopardize relations between the U.S. and other nations, as well as the lives of intelligence operatives abroad. However, the classification also encompasses national security information related to the daily operations of the president of the United States.
“District Court Judge Aileen Cannon in the Southern District of Florida ordered Trump’s lawyers to elaborate on their arguments for why the court has the ability to step in at this time, explain what exactly Trump is asking for and whether the Justice Department has been served with Trump’s special master motion,” CNN previously reported.
“Cannon also asked Trump’s team to weigh in on any effect the request might have on a separate review conducted by a magistrate judge into whether any portions of the still-sealed FBI affidavit laying out probable cause for the search can be released,” the report added.
Earlier this week, Trump filed a motion for a “special master” to review the documents taken from Mar-a-Lago instead of the Department of Justice.
“The request for a so-called special master to review the documents could be filed as soon as Monday in Florida, the person said, requesting anonymity because the matter isn’t public. Trump also plans to ask for a court order requiring the Department of Justice to provide more details about the property that was seized and to return materials that weren’t covered by the warrant, the person said,” Bloomberg News reported.
