Details about Iran’s missile program and American intelligence work aimed at China were among the most “highly sensitive” information Donald Trump had stashed at his Mar-a-Lago compound, The Washington Post reported Friday.
Had the intelligence been shared with or acquired by other people it could have laid bare U.S. intelligence-gathering methods. The identities of American spies could have been exposed and their lives’ endangered, and U.S. intelligence-gathering systems compromised.
Yet the sensitive information was stored in a resort that drew hundreds of unscreened members and guests to parties, fundraisers and wedding receptions at a facility maintained by unscreened groundskeepers and cleaners. One of the storage areas for documents Trump took to Mar-a-Lago from the White House was reportedly easily accessible near a pool open to all members.
At least one document seized by the FBI in August describes Iran’s missile program, sources told the Post. Other documents reportedly described highly sensitive intelligence work involving China.
“The exceptional sensitivity of these documents, and the reckless exposure of invaluable sources and methods of U.S. intelligence capabilities concerning these foreign adversaries, will certainly influence the Justice Department’s determination of whether to charge Mr. Trump or others with willful retention of national defense information under the Espionage Act,” David Laufman, a former senior official of the Justice Department, told the Post.
Mar-a-Lago has been considered a “spy magnet” by intelligence experts — both during and after Trump’s term as president.
“Any competent foreign intelligence service, whether those belonging to China, those belonging to Iran, to Cuba, certainly including Russia are … and were interested in gaining access to Mar-a-Lago,” Peter Strzok, former deputy assistant director of counterintelligence at the FBI, said in a recent MSNBC interview.
But the situation is “especially concerning” because of information in the wake of the FBI confiscation of boxes of documents — including classified and top secret information — at Trump’s club about the “absolute lack of any control or memorialization of who gets access to Mar-a-Lago at any given time,” Strzok pointed out.
A sworn affidavit supporting the FBI search indicated that “classified documents were strewn all over the facility,” said Strzok.
Check out the full Washington Post story here.
