Ex-Trump security official says his handling of classified documents could have cost lives

A Trump administration Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official has given a stunning assessment of the toll that Donald Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents has taken on the safety and security of the American people.

Elizabeth Neumann, who served as the DHS’s assistant secretary for counterterrorism from February 2017 to April 2020 and now works as an ABC News contributor, told ABC’s This Week that lives may have been lost as a result of the former president’s actions.

“This causes people to die,” she said.

“This is a very serious top secret [and] special access program.

“When they fall into the wrong hands, people die and the United States’ security is deeply compromised.”

Besides her grave warning, Ms Neumann added that the stunning evidence laid out in the 49-page indictment gives a “vivid picture” of what the national security community was up against during Mr Trump’s time in the White House.

“I found the indictment to be a really vivid picture for the American public of what the national security community dealt with for four years when he was president,” she said.

“He had a blatant disregard, just did not care to follow the rules.

“And not only did he not protect our country’s most sensitive secrets. That’s not protecting American lives because you have military and intelligence community personnel that are now put at risk.”

The former security official said that Mr Trump’s Mar-a-Lago – where the former president is accused of hoarding troves of classified documents – is a “great target” to foreign intelligence agencies who are “probably trying to figure out what may be there”.

Last week, a grand jury indicted Mr Trump on 37 federal charges over his handling of classified documents, including national defence information, after leaving the White House.

The indictment, which was unsealed on Friday, alleges that Mr Trump deliberately lied to and misled authorities so that he could hold onto documents that he knew were classified.

On at least two separate occasions, Mr Trump then showed some of the classified documents to people not authorised to see them, the indictment alleges.

Stunning photos revealed that many of the documents were stored around a toilet, shower and ballroom at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

The charges include 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information and single counts of false statements and representations, and counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record, corruptly concealing a document, concealing a document in a federal investigation and a scheme to conceal.

Mr Trump’s longtime aide Walt Nauta is also facing six charges including several obstruction- and concealment-related charges after he allegedly helped move boxes of documents from Mar-a-Lago to Mr Trump’s residence and then lied to investigators about having any knowledge of the handling of the papers.

The former president is expected to fly from New Jersey to Miami International Airport on Monday afternoon, to spend the night at his Doral resort before his initial court appearance the following day.

Mr Trump will surrender to authorities in downtown Miami on Tuesday afternoon where he will be formally arrested and appear for his arraignment in a federal courtroom.

Following his arraignment, he will fly straight back to New Jersey where he has announced plans to deliver remarks that night from Trump National Golf Club Bedminster.