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Director of national intelligence reviewing security risk of documents seized from Mar-a-Lago

Congressional leaders acknowledge intelligence chief’s probe

David Taintor
Saturday 27 August 2022 15:00 EDT
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Biden mocks Trump's excuses for having top secret documents at Mar-a-Lago home

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The director of national intelligence has told congressional leaders that she will conduct a review of the national security implications of the documents recovered from Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property.

In a letter first reported on by Politico, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told lawmakers that her office is working with the Department of Justice on the review.

"The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) are working together to facilitate a classification review of relevant materials, including those recovered during the search," Ms Haines wrote to the chairs of the House Intelligence Committee and House Oversight Committee.

Adam Schiff and Carolyn Maloney, the chairs of those committees, respectively, acknowledged the review in a statement on Saturday.

“We are pleased that in response to our inquiry, Director Haines has confirmed that the Intelligence Community and Department of Justice are assessing the damage caused by the improper storage of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago,” they said in a statement.

The FBI raided the former president’s home earlier this month, seizing more than two dozen boxes. Eleven of them contained classified information, including some at the highest level, according to a redacted affidavit released by a federal judge on Friday. According to the court documents, 184 documents were marked classified, with dozens of others at confidential and top secret levels.

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