WaPo: Iran, China Intel Was Among Classified Docs Seized At Mar-a-Lago

PALM BEACH, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 11: A car passes in front of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort on February 11, 2022 in Palm Beach, Florida. Published reports indicate that possible classified material ... PALM BEACH, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 11: A car passes in front of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort on February 11, 2022 in Palm Beach, Florida. Published reports indicate that possible classified material was among documents recovered by the National Archives in January from the Mar-a-Lago home. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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Intelligence relating to Iran and China was found among the classified records seized at Mar-a-Lago in August, the Washington Post reports.

At least one document has to do with the Iranian missile program, while other records had information regarding “highly sensitive intelligence work aimed at China.”

Further details about what was found are unclear, per the article. The story describes the information as among the “most sensitive” that the FBI has found.

Sources and methods used in the process of gathering intelligence are some of the government’s most jealously guarded secrets. Revealing them could compromise the identities of informants that provide information to the U.S. government, or expose means of collecting intelligence to foreign countries.

The DOJ has suggested in its filings that some of the records contain “highly classified” information. Federal prosecutors said at a federal court hearing in Brooklyn last month that some members of the investigation team lacked the necessary security clearance level to review records that were seized from Mar-a-Lago.

Throughout, Trump has claimed that he either declassified the records that were seized before he left office, or that he was able to do so without issuing written or verbal orders to declassify.

The DOJ has focused on the markings on the records that were seized, which indicate varying levels of classification – some of which go to the highest levels of classification that the government uses.

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