The Daily Fuckup

On Aug. 13, 2022, House Democrats Carolyn Maloney and Adam Schiff asked Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines for an immediate damage assessment tied to the FBI search of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club earlier that week.

In their letter, Maloney and Schiff cited the Aug. 8 search, the unsealed warrant materials, and the property receipt that described documents marked at varying classification levels. They argued that the intelligence community should determine whether any classified national intelligence had been exposed or compromised and whether the recovered records created a risk to sources, methods, or ongoing operations.

The request came as the public record on the search was still unfolding. The lawmakers pointed to language in the warrant inventory referring to classified documents, including material marked Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information, and asked Haines to direct the National Counterintelligence and Security Center to coordinate a damage assessment with other appropriate inspectors general.

The letter framed the issue as a national-security problem, not just a records dispute. It also asked for a classified briefing on the assessment as soon as possible, putting the intelligence community on notice that lawmakers wanted a formal review of any harm that could have flowed from the handling of the materials.