Trump Exposes U.S. to 'Grave Harm' if He Still Has Classified Files: Expert

Former President Donald Trump is exposing the United States to "grave harm" if he is still in possession of classified documents, legal analyst Barbara McQuade said Sunday.

Trump for months has faced a Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation into whether he illegally stored classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence. The former president is facing renewed pressure in the case after The New York Times and The Washington Post reported that an investigative team he hired found two new items marked as classified in a storage container used by him in Florida.

Additional details about what classified items, which have been turned over to the FBI, were seized from the unit were not available. Meanwhile, the DOJ last week requested a federal judge to hold Trump and his legal team in contempt for not turning in all documents or naming a custodian of records for the former president.

Trump's attorneys have maintained that they have turned over all of the classified documents, though prosecutors have rejected that claim. Trump's team told the government that attorney Christina Bobb has been named the record custodian, but she was reportedly skeptical about signing a letter attesting that all classified documents had been returned.

Ultimately, Judge Beryl Howell rejected the request, which would have resulted in Trump facing daily fines until he complied with a subpoena ordering him to turn over the documents. It remains unknown how many—if any—documents are still in Trump's possession.

McQuade, a former U.S. attorney, said she was surprised by Howell's ruling because Trump holding classified documents could leave the U.S. in a more vulnerable position, during a Sunday appearance on MSNBC's The Katie Phang Show.

"It isn't that they need these documents for evidence—yes that's helpful. But what they really need is to protect the national security of the United States," she said. "These documents, if released, by definition would cause exceptionally grave harm to the national security of the United States. And if they're still out there in a storage locker or somebody's basement, that exposes the United States to grave harm."

The exact contents of all the classified documents remains unknown, but previous reports from the Post indicated that the documents could have contained information relating to nuclear weapons or information about another country's nuclear secrets—potentially leaving this information vulnerable to espionage.

McQuade questioned how long the DOJ would have to "try to work it out" with Trump's team before a judge intervenes.

"I would think that by now a judge would understand that you can't play around. You can't give them additional time. You can't tolerate their excuses. You need to hold their feet to the fire and get someone to attest that there are no more," she added. "And no one is willing to do that."

Other legal experts, however, offered different opinions on the matter. Glenn Kirschner, a former U.S. Army prosecutor, instead blamed the DOJ for not arresting Trump, accusing them of holding him "slightly above the law" during a recent episode of his Justice Matters podcast.

Kirschner said the DOJ should have arrested and indicted the former president and later issue subsequent search warrants to retrieve any other classified documents he took from the White House when he left last year.

Newsweek reached out to Trump's office for comment.