Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned that the seizure of classified documents at former United States President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate last month should concern every American.
Clinton joined "The View" on Wednesday alongside her daughter, Chelsea Clinton, to share their new docuseries, "Gutsy," which is streaming on Apple TV+ beginning on Friday. But before talking about their new show, which highlights some of the country's biggest heroines, the Clintons weighed in on one of the hottest topics in America right now.
Clinton on FBI Search of Mar-a-Lago
This was related to the FBI's search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate and subsequent discovery of classified documents that the former president took from the White House. The agency executed a search warrant for Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence on Aug. 8.
According to the unsealed inventory list on Friday by a federal judge, agents were able to gather more than 11,000 documents or photographs without classification markings that were described as the property of the United States government, as per ABC News.
There were hundreds of documents that agents retrieved from the residence during the search that were considered confidential, secret, and top-secret, as well as more than 40 empty folders with either "CLASSIFIED" banners on them or labeled "Return to Staff Secretary/Military Aide."
Previous reports noted that the FBI remains concerned about classified records that could still be missing even after their search of the Mar-a-Lago estate. Clinton said that the seized documents "should be taken really seriously." She warned that the documents and empty folders could possess secret information that is essential to the U.S.'s defense and security.
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According to The Guardian, former intelligence officials warned that the former president's Mar-a-Lago estate has become a magnet for foreign spies. This comes as one of the many highly secret papers seized at the residence included the country's nuclear capabilities.
Dangers of the Classified Documents
The documents also included documents marked SAP, Special-Access Programmes, which are often about U.S. intelligence operations and whose circulation is severely restricted, even among administration officials with top security clearance.
However, one of the most concerning things about the search were papers stamped HCS, Humint Control Systems, which involve human intelligence gathered from agents in enemy countries, whose lives would be in danger if their identities were compromised.
Now, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence is conducting a damage assessment review that focuses on the sensitivity of the documents. However, U.S. officials said that it was the responsibility of the FBI counterintelligence to assess who may have gained access to the documents.
That investigation would potentially include a wide field, as the former president's home has a history of being enthralled by foreign autocrats, distrustful of U.S. security services, and boastful about his knowledge of secrets.
Most recently, a judge has approved Trump's request for a special master to review the seized documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate. What comes next will be Judge Aileen Cannon will order the former president's lawyers to confer with the Justice Department and prepare a joint filing explaining their views on who should serve in the position, what their exact responsibilities should be, how they should be paid, how fast they should do their work, and more, CNN reported.
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