President Joe Biden said in an interview aired Sunday that former President Donald Trump’s alleged personal safekeeping of classified documents after his departure was “totally irresponsible.”
Biden told 60 minutes that he has not been informed of the sensitive documents FBI agents recovered from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in August and that he has not spoken to anyone about whether any important national security secrets have been disclosed.
“I haven’t spoken to anyone about that personally – in that regard. I’m sure my government is aware of this, and so is the National Security Council. But I don’t have that,” Biden said.
Host Scott Pelley asked Biden about: released a photo by the Department of Justice, included in a lawsuit filed last month that showed classified and top secret documents on the floor of Mar-a-Lago.
“When you saw the photo of the top secret documents lying on the floor of Mar-a-Lago, what did you think to yourself? When I look at that image,’ the host asked.
“How that could happen. How can anyone be so irresponsible,” Biden said. “And I thought, what data did it contain that could compromise resources and methods? By that I mean names of people who have helped… And it’s just – totally irresponsible.”
“I have not asked for the details of those documents because I do not want to interfere with whether or not the Justice Department should take certain actions that they might take,” Biden added.
The Justice Department is investigating Trump for removal or destruction of records, obstruction of an investigation and violation of the Espionage Act, according to the search warrant in front of Trump’s residence in Mar-a-Lago.
Meanwhile, a list of items removed from the property reveals that the FBI recovered 11 sets of classified documents during the search, including some top-secret documents that should have been available only in special government facilities.
FBI agents recovered one set of documents labeled “Various Classified/TS/SCI Documents,” meaning the documents contain highly classified or sensitive compartmentalized information.
The list also included four sets of top-secret documents, three sets of classified documents, and three sets of confidential documents. The list did not provide details about the contents of the documents.
A federal judge recently granted Trump’s petition for an independent special master to review the seized documents from Mar-a-Lago.
Trump claims a third-party review is needed because the FBI raid, which took place just months before the 2022 midterm elections, “involved political calculations aimed at reducing the leading vote in the Republican Party, President Trump.” “.
