Rep. Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, is demanding additional information from Attorney General Pam Bondi after newly disclosed Department of Justice records indicated that President Donald Trump may have retained classified materials connected to his private financial interests after leaving office in 2021.
According to Raskin, documents recently provided to Congress include a memo suggesting that Trump kept highly sensitive records that prosecutors believed could benefit him financially. The materials were released as part of an effort by Republican lawmakers to challenge Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump’s handling of classified information.
Raskin wrote that the memo appears to shed light on a central unresolved issue in the investigation.
“We have long known that, as he left office in 2021, President Donald Trump stole classified documents, hoarded them in the ballrooms and bathrooms of his Mar-a-Lago clubhouse, defied subpoenas, and obstructed law enforcement. One lingering question has been: why?” Raskin wrote. “Why would Donald Trump go to such extraordinary lengths to steal classified documents, hoard them, and refuse to return them?”
The memo cited in Raskin’s letter reportedly describes classified materials that prosecutors believed were linked to Trump’s business interests. Investigators indicated that some documents were “pertinent to certain business interests,” which they described as a possible “motive for retaining” the materials.
“These new disclosures suggest that Donald Trump stole documents so sensitive that only six people in the entire U.S. government had access to them,” Raskin wrote.
Raskin also stated that the memo describes Trump allegedly displaying classified materials to individuals without proper clearance.
“These new disclosures suggest that Donald Trump stole documents so sensitive that only six people in the entire U.S. government had access to them, that the documents President Trump stole pertained to his business interests, and that [chief of staff] Susie Wiles, then the CEO of Donald Trump’s super PAC, witnessed President Trump showing off a classified map to passengers on his private plane,” Raskin wrote.
According to the memo, prosecutors identified materials that were considered highly restricted.
They were described as “the type of documents that only presidents and officials with the most sensitive authority have,” and investigators warned that disclosure posed an “aggravated potential harm to national security.”
Raskin stated that the memo also referenced instances in which classified materials may have been handled outside secure government systems. In one case, a Trump aide scanned documents onto a laptop and “uploaded the scan to a cloud,” though portions of the memo remain redacted.
“We do not know what that classified map contained, nor can we determine from this memo the relationship between the classified documents President Trump stole and their pertinence to his ‘business interests’,” Raskin wrote.
The classified documents investigation began in 2023, when Trump was charged with withholding government records after leaving office. Prosecutors alleged that Trump retained sensitive documents despite receiving a subpoena ordering their return. Federal investigators later recovered boxes of documents bearing classified markings from Mar-a-Lago.
The case was dismissed in 2024 by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who ruled that Smith’s appointment as special counsel was unlawful. The decision prevented the case from proceeding to trial and blocked public release of certain investigative findings.
Judge Cannon later prevented the release of Smith’s report, describing it as a “brazen strategem” intended to circumvent her ruling.
Legal observers criticized the decision. MS NOW host Chris Hayes said, “Just to be crystal clear: SCOTUS has upheld special counsels repeatedly.” New York University law professor Noah Rosenblum also criticized the ruling, stating, “Now I feel very naive. This is bonkers. She is just making things up.”
The Justice Department has rejected Raskin’s allegations, describing them as unfounded.
“The accusations Raskin makes are baseless,” the department said in a statement. “This letter is nothing more than a cheap political stunt.”
Raskin also accused the Justice Department of selectively releasing investigative materials.
“The position of the DOJ appears to be that it can violate Judge Cannon’s order and grand jury secrecy whenever it sees an opportunity to smear Jack Smith,” Raskin wrote.
Trump has consistently argued that he had authority to declassify the documents in question while serving as president. In a 2022 interview, Trump stated that formal procedures were not necessary.
“There doesn’t have to be a process, as I understand it. You’re the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying it’s declassified, even by thinking about it,” Trump claimed.
However, the National Archives indicated that Trump and his advisers had previously discussed formal declassification procedures. The agency stated that documentation reflected communications concerning whether certain materials should be formally declassified.
“The 16 records in question all reflect communications involving close presidential advisers, some of them directed to you personally, concerning whether, why, and how you should declassify certain classified records,” the National Archives wrote.
Raskin has requested additional information regarding who may have accessed the classified materials and whether any documents were connected to Trump’s private financial interests.
“It is now clear that DOJ is in possession of evidence that President Trump has already endangered national security to further the interests of Trump family businesses,” Raskin wrote. “It is time for you to stop the cover-up and allow the American people to know what secrets he betrayed and how he may have cashed in on them.”
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