Carol Leonnig: Nobody At Mar-a-Lago Would Have The Clearance To Review This Information

THEIR ELECTRICITY USE. A LOT TO GET TO THIS HOUR. WILLIE? >> WE’LL HAVE MORE ON THAT IN JUST A MINUTE. BUT LET’S START WITH THE REPORTING FROM “THE WASHINGTON POST.” PEOPLE FAMILIAR WITH THE MATTER TELLING THE PEOPLE A DOCUMENT DESCRIBING A FOREIGN GOVERNMENT’S NUCLEAR SECRETS WAS AMONG THE TOP SECRET ITEMS THE FBI SEIZED FROM MAR-A-LAGO ABOUT A MONTH AGO. LET’S BRING IN ONE OF THE REPORTERS BEHIND THAT REPORT, NATIONAL INVESTIGATE REPORTER CAROL LEONNIG. GOOD MORNING. IT’S GOOD TO SEE YOU. I WANT TO READ FROM YOU PIECE, DOCUMENTS ABOUT SUCH HIGHLY CLASSIFIED OPERATIONS REQUIRE SPECIAL CLEARANCES

ON A NEED-TO-KNOW BASIS. NOT JUST TOP SECRET CLEARANCE. SOME SPECIAL ACCESS PROGRAMS CAN HAVE AS FEW AS A COUPLE DOZEN GOVERNMENT PERSONNEL AUTHORIZED TO KNOW OF AN OPERATION’S EXISTENCE. RECORDS ARE KEPT UNDER LOCK AND KEY IN A SECURE COMPARTMENTED INFORMATION FACILITY WITH A DESIGNATED CONTROL OFFICER TO KEEP CAREFUL TABS ON THEIR LOCATION. BUT SUCH DOCUMENTS WERE STORED AT MAR-A-LAGO WITH UNCERTAIN SECURITY. MORE THAN 18 MONTHS AFTER TRUMP LEFT THE WHITE HOUSE. CAROL, LET’S BE CLEAR ABOUT WHAT KIND OF DOCUMENTS WE’RE TALKING ABOUT HERE. YOU JUST LAID OUT HOW SECURE THEY REALLY ARE AND EVEN IF

YOU WORK IN THE NATIONAL SECURITY APPARATUS HIGH UP, THAT’S NO GUARANTEE THAT YOU CAN HAVE KWLIES KWLIEEYES ON THIS STUFF. WHAT KIND OF DOCUMENTS ARE WE

TALKED ABOUT SPECIFICALLY RIHERE >> THERE ARE TWO BUCKETS OF DOCUMENTS THAT WE DISCOVERED AND THOUGHT WAS NEWS WORTHY ENOUGH TO PUBLISH THIS STORY. THE FIRST BUCKET WAS INFORMATION THAT DESCRIBES OR DETAILS A FOREIGN GOVERNMENT’S NUCLEAR CAPABILITY. AND NUCLEAR CAPABILITY IS PRETTY VAGUE. IT COULD BE ANYTHING FROM A FOREIGN GOVERNMENT’S ATTEMPT TO BUILD A NUCLEAR PROGRAM OR ITS NUCLEAR READINESS NOW TO WAGE NUCLEAR WAR. WE DON’T KNOW. BUT THAT’S THE

FIRST BUCKET OF RECORDS. THE SECOND BUCKET OF RECORDS THAT WE LEARNED WERE EXTRAORDINARILY SENSITIVE AND SEIZED AT TRUMP’S MAR-A-LAGO CLUB WERE RECORDS THAT WERE SO EXTRAORDINARILY SENSITIVE THAT THEY INVOLVED THE MOST SECRETIVE PROGRAMS OF THE UNITED STATES TO THE DEGREE THAT ONLY A PRESIDENT, A CABINET-LEVEL OFFICIAL, OR SOMEBODY OF A CABINET RANK COULD AUTHORIZE PERSONS TO REVIEW THE RECORDS. SO TO PUT THAT IN PERSPECTIVE, PEOPLE WHO WERE AT THE TOP OF THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION OF NATIONAL SECURITY, MANY OF THEM WERE NOT ABLE TO LOOK AT THESE RECORDS. AND YET THEY WERE STORED FOR 18 MONTHS

AT ESPECIALLY, YOU KNOW, A BEACH CLUB. UNKNOWN AT THIS POINT UNDER WHAT KIND OF LOCK AND KEY. NORMALLY THESE KINDS OF DOCUMENTS NOT ONLY ARE THEY SO CLOSELY GUARDED THAT ONLY CERTAIN PEOPLE CAN BE AUTHORIZED TO BE REVIEWING THEM ON A NEED-TO-KNOW BASIS, BUT THEY ARE ALSO SO SENSITIVE THAT THERE ARE SPECIAL PROTOCOLS FOR THE KINDS OF FACILITIES THEY’RE STORED IN, THE LOCK AND KEY MEASURES THAT ARE USED FOR SAVES OR VAULTS WHERE THEY’RE KEPT AND ALSO THERE IS A SPECIAL PROTOCOL FOR TRACKING WHENEVER THOSE DOCUMENTS ARE REMOVED FROM THEIR LOCKED FACILITY TO BE REVIEWED,

SAY, BY A PRESIDENT OR NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER. THERE’S A PROTOCOL FOR TRACKING WHEN THOSE DOCUMENTS ARE REMOVED AND MAKING SURE THEY’RE RETURNED TO THEIR SAFE LOCKED POSITION. OBVIOUSLY THAT’S NOT HOW THEY WERE KEPT IN MAR-A-LAGO. THE FACT THAT INDIVIDUALS AT THE TOP ECHELONS OF OUR GOVERNMENT COULDN’T REVIEW THESE RECORDS BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T HAVE THE CLEARANCE TO DO SO IS REALLY WORRISOME BECAUSE NOBODY AT MAR-A-LAGO WOULD HAVE THE CLEARANCE TO REVIEW THIS INFORMATION. >> YOU KNOW, CAROL, THIS WEEK — THIS WEEKEND AND I GUESS YESTERDAY — OR THE DAY BEFORE, FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL BARR HAD SAID

THERE WERE REALLY NO PRECEDENCE FOR A PRESIDENT TAKING DOCUMENTS LIKE THIS TO MAR-A-LAGO, TO A BEACH CLUB, TAKING IT OUT OF A GOVERNMENT FACILITY JUST NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE. I’M CURIOUS, THIS LEVEL OF TOP-SECRET CLASSIFICATION, HAVE WE SEEN THAT — IT’S MORE OF A RHETORICAL QUESTION BUT I’M GOING TO ASK IT ANYWAY. HAVE WE SEEN ANYTHING THIS SENSITIVE IN ANY OF THE CASES WE’VE HEARD ABOUT? HILLARY CLINTON’S SERVER, DIRECTOR PETRAEUS, SANDY BERGER? THOSE HIGH-PROFILE CASES WHERE CIA DIRECTORS AND NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISERS GOT IN TROUBLE WITH THE LAW? HAS ANYTHING EVER APPROACHED THIS LAW OF SENSITIVITY? >>

EVEN THOUGH YOUR QUESTION, JOE, IS RHETORICAL AND IMPORTANT, I WILL JUST SAY THAT, YOU KNOW, IT’S EASY TO SAY ABSOLUTELY NOT. I WOULD SAY MY GUT INSTINCT IS ABSOLUTELY NOT. I KNOW THE DETAILS OF HILLARY CLINTON’S SERVER MATERIALS, THE INSPECTOR GENERAL’S REVIEW OF THOSE DOCUMENTS, I KNOW THE DETAILS OF WHAT SANDY BERGER PUT IN HIS SUIT POCKET, JOHN DEUTSCH, I KNOW A LITTLE BIT LESS ABOUT, BUT I WOULD SAY IT’S ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO CONCEIVE THAT ANY OF THE RECORDS REACHED THIS LEVEL. YOU KNOW, IMAGINE THE DEFENSE DEPARTMENT’S BLACK OPS FOR INSERTING ITSELF IN A GOVERNMENT

THAT’S UNSTABLE AND TRYING TO KEEP THE UNSTABLE GOVERNMENT FROM BEING TOPPLED BY A COUP. THAT’S THE KIND OF PROGRAM, THE LEVEL OF SECURITY WE’RE TALKING ABOUT, WHERE A DOZEN OR TWO DOZEN PEOPLE ARE AWARE OF IT. NO, THAT KIND OF MATERIAL HAS NOT BEEN IN OTHER CASES BEFORE. AND I WOULD ADD ONE MORE THING TO YOUR QUESTION, JOE, WHICH IS, I’VE BEEN GETTING CALLS FROM PEOPLE IN THE LAST 24 HOURS, TRUMP TEAM, TRUMP WORLD INDIVIDUALS, I’LL DESCRIBE THEM. PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH THE FORMER PRESIDENT, AND THEY SAID THIS IS A COMPLETELY SELF-INFLICTED GUNSHOT

WOUNDS. THESE ARE DOCUMENTS THAT SHOULD HAVE RETURNED. JUST AS BILL BARR SAID, THERE IS NO DOUBT IN THE WORLD THAT THESE ARE THE GOVERNMENT’S RECORDS, THEY NEED PROTECTION, THEY’RE NOT DONALD TRUMP’S. AND THESE INDIVIDUALS SAY DONALD TRUMP IS PAYING A POLITICAL PRICE FOR THE INFORMATION THAT’S LEAKING OUT AND THE INFORMATION THAT’S BEING REVEALED IN OUR REPORTING, THAT HE HAD LOTS OF OPPORTUNITIES TO RETURN THINGS THAT HE KNEW WERE SENSITIVE. >> SO, CAROL, DID YOUR SOURCES TELL YOU WHETHER THESE NUCLEAR SECRETS FROM ANOTHER NATION INVOLVED A COUNTRY THAT ALREADY HAD OBTAINED NUCLEAR WEAPONS OR FROM A

COUNTRY THAT WAS DEVELOPING NUCLEAR WEAPONS, LIKE IRAN? >> IT’S EXACTLY THE RIGHT QUESTION, ONE WE’VE BEEN ASKING REPEATEDLY. BUT WE DO NOT — WE HAVE NOT MET THE STANDARD FOR PUBLISHING THIS INFORMATION. WE DO NOT KNOW WITH CERTAINTY AND WE WON’T PUBLISH UNTIL WE DO. >> AND HAVE YOUR SOURCES CONFIRMED TO YOU THAT IT WAS THESE NUCLEAR DOCUMENTS THAT ULTIMATELY WAS THE TRIGGER THAT MADE THE FBI, MADE THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE REALIZE THEY HAD NO OTHER CHOICE BUT TO ACTUALLY MOVE IN WITH A LEGAL SEARCH AND GET THESE DOCUMENTS BACK UNDER LOCK AND KEY. >>

THE ANSWER TO THAT QUESTION, I’M GOING TO BE A LITTLE FUZZY ABOUT AND JUST SAY THAT OUR INFORMATION RIGHT NOW AND MORE THINGS WILL BE LEARNED, NO DOUBT, AND WE WILL PUBLISH THEM AS WE LEARN THEM WITH CERTAINTY, BUT OUR INFORMATION RIGHT NOW IS THAT THE GOVERNMENT DID NOT KNOW WITH CERTAINTY THAT THIS IS WHAT THEY WOULD FIND. INSTEAD, THEY WANTED TO BE EXTREMELY BROAD, EXTREMELY CAREFUL AND COMPREHENSIVE. IN THEIR SUBPOENA IN MAY FOR ALL THE RECORDS AT THE — ALL THE RECORDS AT MAR-A-LAGO, THEY ASKED FOR EVERY CLASSIFICATION MARKING ALMOST UNDER THE SUN AND

IT INCLUDED THE CLASSIFICATION THAT COVERS THESE NUCLEAR WEAPON AND NUCLEAR CAPABILITY RECORDS. BUT OUR INFORMATION AT THE MOMENT IS THEY DIDN’T KNOW WITH CERTAINTY THIS WAS WHAT THEY WOULD FIND AND, INDEED, IT IS WHAT THEY FOUND. >> “WASHINGTON POST” NATIONAL INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, CAROL

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