House Intelligence Committee to receive “damage assessment” on seized Trump documents

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - The House Intelligence Committee is requesting a “damage assessment” from top U.S. intelligence officials about the documents taken from Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.

Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines confirmed to the committee this week she is working on a review.

Intelligence Committee member Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-TX, said, as a member of Congress with extensive access to top secret intelligence, he was shocked to see how many U.S. documents former President Donald Trump had taken home.

“If we walk out with anything, if we walk out with a piece of paper, we immediately become a suspect,” Castro said. “And there are punishments basically for doing those things.”

Rep. Greg Steube, R-FL, on the House Judiciary Committee believes the investigation is less about national security, and more about keeping Trump off the next presidential ballot.

“Well it’s definitely politically motivated,” Steube said. “We had a politically motivated DOJ that for two years, it was Russia, Russia, Russia, and the Trump campaign conspiring with Russia.”

An affidavit unsealed Friday revealed the FBI identified Trump possessed 92 documents marked secret and 25 marked top secret.

National security lawyer Kel McClanahan says top secret means a document can cause “grave danger” to the country if disclosed.

“What that is can range from being a list of assets, a list of agents that work overseas in foreign governments, to nuclear material, to technical material that would allow people to evade our surveillance,” said McClanahan, National Security Counselors Executive Director.

Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines wrote a letter to the Intelligence Committee confirming the administration is conducting a review.

Castro says a damage assessment should wait until lawmakers are physically in Washington.

“The Intelligence Committee, in a classified setting, needs to know what documents were at Mar-a-Lago that may have been compromised over there,” Castro said.

Trump is requesting a so called “special master” to determine if some of the documents seized are covered by attorney client privilege.

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