Whatever happened to the Trump classified documents 'damage assessment?'

Published: Jan. 18, 2023, 7:03 p.m.

It was big news at the time. Shortly after the Aug. 8, 2022, FBI raid to seize classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, the winter home of former President Donald Trump, Democrats in Congress asked the intelligence community to do a "damage assessment." In a letter to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) cited news reports about the classification levels of the documents, including one sensational Washington Post story that Trump held documents concerning nuclear weapons. "At least one report indicates that the FBI's investigation focused in part on highly classified documents 'relating to nuclear weapons,' which are among our nation's most closely guarded secrets," they wrote. "If this report is true, it is hard to overstate the national security danger that could emanate from the reckless decision to remove and retain this material."