The image of sensitive papers lying about on the floor of what seems to be an office area at Mar-a-Lago, which was published in court files on Tuesday, has drawn criticism from the supporters of former President Donald Trump.
On Fox & Friends on Thursday morning, daughter-in-law Lara Trump stated, “He’s a really clean man.” He would never leave papers strewn around on a floor like that, it was said.
On Sean Hannity’s Fox show on Wednesday night, one of Trump’s attorneys, Alina Habba, said that Trump’s office isn’t disorganised since she had firsthand knowledge of it.
She said to Hannity, “I do have direct experience, as you know, I’m down there regularly.” I’ve never witnessed that. I’ve never witnessed that.
His workplace doesn’t look like that. Anyone who is familiar with President Trump’s office knows that he routinely has visitors, therefore it’s simply a joke.
Former FBI personnel, including Peter Strzok, one of the alleged “FBI lovers,” were perplexed by the fact that visitors regularly got close to sensitive material.
Strzok wrote, largely paraphrasing Habba, “‘I have been down there, I’m down there regularly… he has guests there frequently.”
He tweeted Wednesday night, citing Habba’s Fox News segment, “And from Langley to Ft Meade to 935 Pennsylvania, brows furrow even more deeply.”
Greg Ehrie, the former special agent in charge of FBI Newark, gave an explanation of what Habba’s statement means on CNN on Thursday morning: He added of the top-secret papers: “They have to infer, simply from this exchange, that they were in the open, that they were in his office.”
They must presume that the information is public. How can we safeguard those assets right away? Ehrie continued.
Due to Habba’s admission, prosecutors may decide to summon her as a witness.
Lara Trump, a Fox News contributor and the wife of the former president’s son Eric, minimised the security risk by arguing that all the papers had previously been declassified.
“I believe their intention was, of course, to point out that all of them are secret materials,” they said. She said to Fox’s Ainsley Earhardt, “Well, just because something has that label on it doesn’t mean it’s something that wasn’t declassified by my father-in-law when he was still president.” Which he said was true of everything he removed from the Oval Office.
She snorted, “I believe the Department of Justice and the FBI handled the entire thing extremely poorly.”
The Justice Department will argue against Team Trump’s request to use a “special master” to evaluate the evidence seized from the former president’s Florida home and private club in court on Thursday.
The DOJ published a 35-page file along with a picture on Tuesday, which before the hearing.
The papers, according to the New York Times, were shown and photographed by federal officials as part of a regular process, not because they were discovered on the floor.
Habba said that by arranging the papers on the floor, the FBI was attempting to make the former president seem even more irresponsible.
In order for the public to think that the papers on his floor are top secret, she said, “They actually must have gone in and picked out documents they wanted or cover letters as it is and placed it around.” Hannity agreed. “It’s absurd.” I can directly attest to its absurdity. That, I’ve never seen.