Former White House Press Secretary Says Classified Information Was Like a 'Shiny New Toy' to Donald Trump
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James Devaney/GC Images Donald Trump
Following the FBI's seizure of 11 sets of classified documents from Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago property, one former White House staffer says Trump's tendency to show off secret information was well known during his time in office.
According to former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, the now 76-year-old Trump treated classified information as "his own shiny toy he's showing off to his friends to impress them" — and his eagerness to share the info, she added, often trumped any fear that it might put lives in danger.
Speaking to the Associated Press, Grisham said Trump was "careless" with sensitive information.
The AP highlights several moments during Trump's tenure when the handling of classified information was called into question, such as a 2018 dinner with former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the patio of Mar-a-Lago, where fellow diners took cellphone photos of the world leaders reviewing reportedly classified documents relating to a North Korean missile test.
And then there was the time Trump showed off a U.S. military dog named Conan that killed Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Conan, a Belgian Malinois, was paraded before reporters, Grisham said, in spite of a briefing in which White House staffers were instructed the dog could not be photographed. The fear, they said, was that his handlers could be put in danger by the photos.
Video: Trump suspected of violating Espionage Act according to Mar-a-Lago search warrant
But Trump, Grisham added, wasn't dissuaded.
"Because he wanted the publicity, out went Conan," Grisham told the AP. "It's an example of him not caring if he put lives in danger."
Trump's former National Security Adviser John Bolton backed up Grisham's assertions to the AP, saying that the former president "didn't seem to appreciate just how sensitive [classified information] was, how dangerous it was for some of our people and the risks that they could be exposed to."
"What looks like an innocuous picture to a private citizen can be a gold mine to ... foreign intelligence," Bolton added to the AP.
The former president's handling of classified documents appears to be central to an FBI search of Mar-a-Lago in August, which came just weeks after FBI agents and a senior Justice Department national security supervisor reportedly visited the resort in regard to boxes of classified documents sitting in the property's basement.
Trump reportedly assured officials that he had no more classified materials, but weeks later, "someone familiar with the stored papers told investigators there may be still more classified documents at the private club," per The Wall Street Journal.
Following the Aug. 8 search of Mar-a-Lago, a U.S. court unsealed the warrant that gave FBI agents access to the property, revealing that the Department of Justice is investigating the former president for potential violations of the Espionage Act and other national security-related statutes.
An inventory of the items taken in the search shows 11 sets of classified documents. Some were marked as top secret, which the Wall Street Journal notes should only be available in special government facilities.
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Among the many boxes of items taken were binders of photos, an unspecified handwritten note and the executive grant of clemency for former Trump aide Roger Stone. The three-page list of items also showed that information about the President of France was collected.
Trump has since claimed he had a "standing order" to declassify documents he took from the Oval Office to the White House residence — a claim that several of his own former officials dispute.
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As Bolton surmised to the AP, Trump's seeming lack of understanding regarding the sensitivity of some documents meant that he viewed almost all of them as nothing more than souvenirs.
"I think he just thought some things were cool and he wanted them," Bolton said. "Some days he liked to collect french fries. Some days he liked to collect documents. He just collected things."
