The Washington Post claimed on Tuesday that one of the top-secret papers that the FBI took from former US President Donald Trump’s Florida home outlined the nuclear capabilities and military defences of a foreign country.
The newspaper reported that some of the documents discovered in Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence were so highly classified that only the president and cabinet or near-cabinet level officials would be authorised to grant other government officials access to them. Unnamed sources familiar with the case were cited by the newspaper.
The nation whose military and nuclear capabilities were mentioned in the text went unnamed.
The Post claims that rather than a standard top-secret clearance, such materials need specific clearances based on a need-to-know basis.
No information was provided on the location of the extremely sensitive material or the level of security it was located inside the house, which also acts as a private members club.
Cases against Trump
The Justice Department has claimed that top secret papers were “likely hidden” to thwart an FBI investigation into Trump’s alleged improper handling of classified secrets, and as a result, Trump is coming under increasing legal pressure.
In a government court filing, it was stated that when agents searched the Mar-a-Lago resort on August 8, they discovered information so sensitive that “even the FBI counterintelligence personnel and DOJ attorneys conducting the review required additional clearances before they were permitted to review certain documents.”
The FBI raid followed a review of “highly sensitive” documents that Trump, after months of wrangling with the National Archives and Records Administration, eventually turned up to authorities in January.
There were 184 papers classified as confidential, secret, or top secret in the 15 crates Trump sent.
Trump’s attorney finally gave over an additional 38 secret papers after being prodded by the FBI and offered “sworn certification” that these were the last pieces of information.
However, the FBI later found “several sources of information” that indicated there were still sensitive materials at Mar-a-Lago.