Classified Documents Found at Mar-a-Lago Under Review, National Intelligence Director Says

Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, said in a letter sent Friday to Reps. Adam Schiff and Carolyn Maloney that intelligence agencies are investigating the national security implications of former President Donald Trump improperly storing classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate. Haines, a 2022 Wash100 awardee and upcoming Potomac Officers Club speaker, assured Maloney and Schiff that the examinations will not clash with the ongoing criminal probe being conducted by the Department of Justice, BNN Bloomberg reported Saturday.

Haines’ letter comes after Maloney and Schiff, who chair the Oversight and Reform and Intelligence Committees respectively, requested a damage assessment to national security following the Aug. 8 raid of the Trump property by the FBI. Following the release of a bureau affidavit used to authorize the seizure, the two lawmakers urged intelligence agencies to move “in parallel” with the DOJ to address security compromises.

According to Sen. Mark Warner, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, the FBI document revealed that the files stored at Mar-a-Lago contained some of the “most sensitive intelligence.” Officials concluded that Trump could possess additional such files following the National Archives and Records Administration’s recovery of several boxes of highly classified records on Jan. 18.