New Indictment Quotes Trump

TR UM P’s Public Statements on Classified Information

As a candidate for President of the United States, TRUMP made the following public statements. among others. about classified information:
a. On August 18, 2016. TRUMP stated, “In my administration l’m going to enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information. No one will be above the law.”
b. On September 6. 2016. TRUMP stated, “We also need to fight this battle by collecting intelligence and then prolecting, protecting our classified secrets. . . . We can·t have someone in the Oval Office who doesn’t understand the meaning of the word confidential or classified.”
c. On September 7, 2016, TRUMP stated, “[Olne of the first things we must do 1s to enforce all classification rules and lo enforce all laws relating to the handling of classified infonnation.’·

d. On St:ptember 19. 2016, TRUMP stated. “We also need the best protection of classined information:·

e. On November 3. 2016. TRUMP stated, ‘·Service members here in North Carolina have risked their Iives to acquire classified intelligence to protect our country.”

24. As President of the United States, on July 26.2018. TRUMP issued the following statement about classified infonm1tion:
As the head oflhe execu1ive branch and Commander in Chief. I have a unique. Constitutional responsibility lo rrotect the Nation’s classified information, including by controlling access to iL •.. More broadly. the issue of la former executive branch official’s! security clearance raises larger questions ahoul the practice of fonner officials maintaining access to our Nation’s most sensitive secrets long after their time in Government has ended. Such access is particularly inappropriate when fonner officials have transitioned

into highly partisan positions and seek to use real or perceived access to sensitive information to validate their political attacks. Any access granted to our Nation’s secrets should be in furtherance of national, not personal, interests.

TRUMP’s Retention of Classified Documents After His Presidency

25. In January 2021, as he was preparing to leave the White House, TRUMP and his White House staff, including NAUTA, packed items, including some of TRUMP’s boxes. TRUMP was personally involved in this process. TRUMP caused his boxes, containing hundreds of classified documents, to be transported from the White House to The Mar-a-Lago Club.
26. From January through March 15, 2021, some ofTRUMP’s boxes were stored in The Mar-a-Lago Club’s White and Gold BaJlroom, in which events and gatherings took place. TRUMP’s boxes were for a time stacked on the ballroom’s stage, as depicted in the photograph below (redacted to obscure an individual’s identity).