- Ron Johnson said he considers Mar-a-Lago a “pretty safe place” for top-secret documents.
- He said he wasn’t “overly concerned” about possible leaks of sensitive data from the property.
- “It has Secret Service protection,” the senator said of Trump’s Florida residence.
Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson said he wasn’t “overly concerned” about the possible leak of classified information from documents found at President Donald Trump’s Florida mansion, citing the FBI’s Mar-A Participated in the search for Lago.
Speaking to Wisconsin-based ABC affiliate WISN News on Friday, Johnson was asked if he was concerned about potential national security breaches.
“First of all, I think Mar-a-Lago is a pretty safe place. There’s Secret Service protection, and it looks like these documents were kept safe,” Johnson said.
“No, I’m not overly concerned about leaking classified information,” he said.
Johnson, a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Foreign Relations Committees, added that he was “always concerned” about the classified documents, but didn’t think there was any need to worry about the documents in Trump’s hands. ing.
“Raiding the former president’s home is just a step that I don’t think the Justice Department should take,” he added.
The FBI smuggled 11 sets of classified documents — some classified and reportedly related to nuclear weapons — out of Mar-a-Lago after it executed a search warrant for property last Monday. . A federal court has also unsealed a warrant that allowed agents to search Trump’s Florida residence.
The National Archives removed 15 boxes of documents from its properties in February.
The Justice Department is currently investigating whether Trump violated three federal laws. This includes the Espionage Act, a law introduced in 1917 that prohibits the sharing of information that could harm the United States or aid foreign enemies. A person convicted of violating this law faces up to 10 years in prison.
For his part, the former president has not denied a Washington Post report that the FBI searched his Mar-a-Lago home for classified documents containing nuclear information. He asked the FBI to return the “box containing the ‘Attorney and Client’s Privileges’ materials” taken from the FBI.
Experts told Reuters Mar-a-Lago presented security challenges as a place to store classified government documents.
“Even just keeping highly sensitive documents in an inappropriate storage location, especially given Mar-a-Lago, foreign visitors there, and those who may be associated with foreign governments or foreign agents. , creates a serious national security threat,” said the former Department of Justice official Mary McCord, per outlet.
Mar-a-Lago has a long documented history of security issues. In 2017, guests witnessed Trump having a candid discussion with then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe about what their response to North Korea’s missile tests should be.
In 2019, a Chinese woman was arrested and charged after entering the premises. Prosecutors said at the time that the woman’s girlfriend, Zhang Yujing, was wearing a thumb drive containing “malicious software.”
Trump’s former chief of staff, John Kerry, also told The Washington Post that he “didn’t believe” the White House classification system, so the former president may have brought top-secret documents to Mar-a-Lago. He said he believed
“His sense was that people in Intel’s business were incompetent, and he knew all too well,” Kelly said.
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