President Joe Biden’s top national security aide said he has not been briefed on the documents seized during the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago raid.
The government’s investigation into whether former President Donald Trump was undermining national security by holding on to classified or top secret records is “not in my channel,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters Tuesday.
“I have not been briefed,” Sullivan said. “The investigation is obviously being handled by the Justice Department, led by the attorney general, who, of course, is a member of the National Security Council.
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The DOJ is looking into whether Trump broke federal laws by keeping classified documents at his residence. A separate damage assessment is underway by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, looking into whether the former president’s handling of classified documents jeopardized national security. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines is also a National Security Council member.
Sullivan said that the agencies are overseeing their respective “channels,” pursuing separate analyses and assessments.
“Each of them have communicated to the press and the public that which they are prepared to communicate, and it’s being handled in those channels, and not in my channel, and I have not been briefed,” Sullivan added.
Biden has said he was not involved in the decision to investigate Trump’s handling of presidential records.
During a 60 Minutes interview on Sunday, the president told CBS that he had not been briefed on the documents seized in the raid to avoid interfering with any potential actions by the government.
“I have not asked for the specifics of those documents because I don’t want to get myself in the middle of whether or not the Justice Department should move or not move on certain actions they could take. I agreed I would not tell them what to do and not, in fact, engage in telling them how to prosecute or not,” Biden said.
When asked whether he believed national security secrets were compromised, Biden said he had not “spoken to anyone” about the contents of the material found by the FBI at Trump’s Florida estate.
“I have not personally spoken to anyone on that — in that regard. I’m sure my administration is aware of all of that, and so is the National Security Council. But I have not,” Biden said.
Shown a photograph released by the DOJ that displayed alleged classified material strewn across the floor of a room, Biden indicated that he was familiar with the piece of evidence and called the handling “irresponsible.”
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Biden said he was left wondering “how that could possibly happen? How one, anyone, could be that irresponsible?”
“And I thought what data was in there that may compromise sources and methods? By that, I mean names of people who helped or, etc., and it just — totally irresponsible,” Biden added.
Federal authorities removed classified documents from Mar-a-Lago in August while executing a search warrant for possible Espionage Act violations, according to the DOJ.
