The Director of National Intelligence is preparing to review the FBI search At former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate earlier this month, CBS News has learned.
In a letter to congressional leaders on Friday, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haynes said her office would conduct a “categorical review” of the material.
“The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) are working together to facilitate classified review of relevant material, including material recovered during searches,” Haynes wrote. “ONDI will also lead the intelligence community’s assessment of the risks to national security posed by the disclosure of relevant documents.”
The letter was addressed to House Oversight and Reform Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney and House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff.
“The ODNI will coordinate closely with the DOJ to ensure this IC assessment is conducted in a manner that does not unduly interfere with the DOJ’s ongoing criminal investigation,” Haines wrote.
This is after a federal court in Florida on Friday Redacted affidavit issued This was submitted by the FBI in order to obtain a search warrant.
The affidavit revealed that the 15 boxes of records recovered from Mar-a-Lago by the National Archives and Records Administration in January included 184 classified-marked documents, including 67 marked “confidential”, 92 marked “confidential” and 25 “confidential” Marked as “Top Secret”. Fourteen of the 15 boxes contained classified documents. The FBI said private areas of Mar-a-Lago had no right to keep such records.
In a post on his Truth social platform on Friday, Trump harshly criticized the changes.
“No mention of anything on ‘nuclear’, it’s a PR ruse by the FBI and DOJ, or our close working relationship on document turnaround – we give them a lot,” Trump wrote.
FBI agents get approval from Attorney General Merrick Garland during their Aug. 8 search in Mar-a-Lago 11 sets of classified documents seized, according to an unsealed search warrant. Agents collected boxes labeled “Top Secret,” “Confidential,” “Confidential,” and “Top Secret/Sensitive Segregated Information.”
In a written statement Saturday, Maloney and Schiff said there were concerns that “human resources” were being threatened because the documents were kept at Mar-a-Lago.
“We are pleased that Commissioner Haynes has confirmed in response to our inquiry that the intelligence community and the Department of Justice are assessing the damage caused by the improper storage of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago,” the two representatives said. “Yesterday’s partially unsealed DOJ affidavit confirms that has addressed our serious concerns about the presence of documents in Mar-a-Lago storage that could jeopardize human resources. It is critical that the IC act swiftly to assess and, if necessary, mitigate the damage caused – a process that should be coordinated with the judicial system A criminal investigation by the Ministry is ongoing.”
Larry Cosme, president of the Association of Federal Law Enforcement Officers, which represents federal agents, told CBS News that the association supports keeping the identities of agents secret.
“They obviously didn’t want to be discovered because of the level of threat,” Cosme said. “They’re worried about their welfare, which makes sense.”
Earlier this week, Trump’s lawyers make a motion Call for the appointment of a “special supervisor” to review documents seized from Mar-a-Lago. A hearing on the motion is scheduled for Sept. 1, U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon of Florida said Saturday.
