The former President is in potential legal jeopardy after a Justice Department search of his Mar-a-Lago residence last month recovered more than 100 classified documents, with the Justice Department alleging that US government documents were “likely hidden and removed” from a warehouse at the Florida resort in an attempt to “hinder” the FBI’s investigation. More than 320 classified documents have now been recovered from Mar-a-Lago, the Justice Department said, including more than 100 in the FBI investigation earlier this month. Speaking in 2016 about the administration’s decision not to charge Hillary Clinton with crimes related to the investigation into her handling of classified material and use of a private email server while secretary of state, then-candidate Trump repeatedly promised that his administration will strictly enforce all rules regarding classified material. “On political corruption, we’re going to restore honor to our government,” Trump said in August 2016. “In my administration, I’m going to enforce all the laws that deal with the protection of classified information. No one will be above the law.” “One of the first things we have to do is enforce all the classification rules and enforce all the laws related to the handling of classified information,” he said in September 2016. Speaking in July that same year, Trump said Clinton’s mishandling “disqualifies” her from public service. “Any government employee who engages in this type of conduct would be prohibited from handling classified information,” Trump said. “Again, that in itself rules her out.” It’s not just Clinton that Trump has criticized, but he has also repeatedly called for other opponents to be jailed for what he said was the mishandling of classified material.
In 2017, when calls between Trump and foreign governments were leaked, along with communications between incoming National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and foreign governments, Trump suggested that those responsible for the leaks should go to jail. “This is top secret,” Trump said. “Registered. This is confidential. You go to jail for circulating stuff like that.” Trump has also said multiple times that former FBI Director James Comey should be “prosecuted” over tweets that promote baseless accusations that Comey leaked classified information. A DOJ inspector general report found “no evidence that Comey or his lawyers released any of the classified information contained in any of the memos to members of the media.” The IG’s office referred the findings of its report to the Justice Department for possible prosecution, and prosecutors declined to press charges. “Leak of CLASSIFIED information, for which he should be prosecuted,” said one Trump tweet in April 2018, while another said Comey should be in jail.
Trump has also repeatedly and forcefully called for the prosecution of his former National Security Adviser John Bolton. After the publication of Bolton’s memoir of his time in the Trump White House, “The Room Where It Happened,” Trump said the book contained classified information.
A federal judge involved in one of Bolton’s cases found that he likely endangered national security with his book, but the judge also rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to block the book’s publication.
In 2020, Trump told Fox News that Bolton should go to prison for “many, many years” for releasing the memoir.
“Classified information; he should go to prison for many, many years,” Trump said. In an interview with Greta Van Susteren, Trump again called for Bolton to be jailed. “Here’s what he did: He released classified information, top secret and confidential information, all different categories,” Trump said. “John Bolton should never have been allowed to do that. You know, the young sailor who sent a picture home to his mother and other people. They’re going to jail for a long time. You can’t do that. And that was not as vital, as important as John Bolton.” Trump tweeted in June 2020 that Bolton was “washed out” by the time Trump hired him. “I brought him back and gave him a chance,” the tweet read. “[He] broke the law by publishing Classified Information, in huge amounts. He must pay a very heavy price for this, like others before him. This must not happen again!!!” Trump later said in an interview with Brian Kilmeade that regardless of whether Bolton unknowingly leaked information in his book “he should go to jail.” A Justice Department investigation into Bolton was halted in 2021, and he told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on “The Situation Room” last year that his book “went through a pre-publication review process” and was “cleared by the panel of experts that the painstakingly reviewed.” For his part, the former President insisted he declassified all documents seized during the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago search, claiming in a statement that he had a “standing order” saying “that the documents were removed from the Oval Office and moved to the residence were deemed declassified at the time he removed them.” The search warrant released by the Justice Department identified potential violations of three laws, none of which depended solely on whether the information was classified. In a filing in court Tuesday night, the Justice Department claimed the government documents were “likely withheld and removed can” from a warehouse in Mar-a-Lago as part of an effort to “hinder” the FBI’s investigation into possible Trump mishandling. classified materials. In response, Trump acknowledged in a court filing Wednesday that classified material was found at Mar-a-Lago in January, but argued that it should not have been cause for alarm — and should not have led to an earlier search of his residence Trump in Florida. this month.