Esper: Trump known as ‘hoarder’ of classified documents

Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Sunday said former President Trump has been described as a “hoarder” of classified documents, in the wake of Trump facing federal charges over his alleged mishandling of some of the nation’s top secrets.

Presented with suggestions both that Trump kept the documents “like a child with a toy” and that he kept them for financial or power reasons, Esper said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that he thinks “both theories could be true and likely are true to some extent.”

“People have described him as a hoarder when it comes to these type of documents. But, clearly, it was unauthorized, illegal and dangerous,” Esper said of Trump.

“And, look, we have a case playing out right now in Massachusetts where that young airman from the Massachusetts National Guard is being charged on similar types of accounts under the Espionage Act for taking and retaining unauthorized documents that affected our national defense.”

Trump earlier this month pleaded not guilty to 37 counts related to allegations that he violated the Espionage Act and obstructed justice by taking classified records with him after his presidency and then refusing to turn them over to the government.

Esper on Sunday also agreed that, if the indictment’s charges are proven true, Trump can’t be trusted with the nation’s secrets again, even as Trump runs for another four years in the White House in the 2024 presidential race.

“I mean, it’s just irresponsible action that places our service members at risk, places our nation’s security at risk. You cannot have these documents floating around. They need to be secured. We know how that happens, that only authorized persons are allowed to see documents or receive information from documents,” Esper said.

The former defense secretary explained concerns that foreign agents or another country could “discover documents that outline America’s vulnerabilities or the weaknesses of the United States military” that could then be exploited against the U.S.

“Think about how that could be exploited, how that could be used against us in a conflict, how an enemy could develop countermeasures, things like that. Or, in the case of the most significant piece that was raised in the allegation, about U.S. plans to attack Iran, think about how that affects our readiness, our ability to prosecute an attack, if indeed we know that Iran eventually develops a nuclear weapon and we need to act on it,” Esper said.

The DOJ reportedly has a July 2021 audio recording in which Trump discusses a classified Pentagon document detailing a potential U.S. attack on Iran.

“So, I’m quite concerned about this. These are very serious allegations and need to be taken seriously by everybody involved.”