Enlarge image
donald trump
Photo: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP
The secret documents that former US President Donald Trump took with him after the end of his term in office are apparently to be evaluated by the US secret services.
This is reported by several US media, including the magazine "Politico" and the "New York Times".
The media are referring to a letter from intelligence coordinator Avril Haines, which was sent to the chair of the US Congressional Intelligence Committee, among others.
The investigation aims to clarify whether national security risks have arisen from the storage in Trump's Mar-a-Lago villa in Florida and the possible disclosure to third parties.
The aim is to determine which intelligence sources or systems could be identified from the documents and compromised if they fall into the wrong hands, Haines wrote, according to the media.
"The Justice Department and the Office of the US Intelligence Coordinator are working together to facilitate a classification review of relevant materials, including those found in the search," Haines reportedly wrote.
Care should be taken to ensure that the work of the secret services does not interfere with the ministry's criminal investigations into the documents.
»Immediate review and damage assessment«
As the New York Times reports, on August 13, a few days after the FBI's search in Mar-a-Lago, the US Congressional Intelligence Committee on Haines called for an "immediate review and damage assessment" of the documents found to perform.
Avril Haines is the intelligence coordinator in the government of Trump's successor, Joe Biden.
On Friday, the US Department of Justice partially made public the basis on which the ex-president's residence was searched on August 8th.
This revealed that Trump had previously returned numerous confidential, classified, and top-secret documents to the National Archives.
Because Trump had kept the paperwork at his private estate until then, he may have broken the law.
This is now being investigated, while Trump is defending himself legally.
The search caused a stir.
The fact that investigators search the house of a former president is considered a unique event in US history.
The Republican was president from 2017 to 2021. Trump has also been fueling speculation for weeks that he could soon announce a bid for the next presidential election in November 2024.
The investigations are therefore politically doubly sensitive.
mgo/dpa