Nevada, Iowa — Mike Franken, the Democrat running against Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, says the top secret documents that wound up at former President Trump’s Florida residence shouldn’t have left the White House.
Franken is a retired Navy admiral who still has a security clearance due to recent work for a defense contractor. Franken says at one point in his military career he conducted national security briefings for the U.S. Defense Secretary where classified and top secret documents were reviewed.
An affidavit released Friday indicates Trump took information about U.S. spies and other top secret documents with him when he left the White House in early 2021. Franken says human intelligence is vital to national security and the handling of the material is troubling.
A voter asked Franken about this month’s search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort during a “coffee with the candidate” forum in Nevada this weekend. The affidavit used to get court permission for the search indicates Trump gave the National Archives 184 documents marked as classified, secret or top secret in January of this year, but witnesses say Trump was keeping other highly-sensitive records in Florida. During a speech last August 24th in Linn County, Senator Grassley said FBI agents have shown political bias.
Grassley says the search of Trump’s property is disturbing and erodes confidence in the FBI.
