Ex-Trump Aide Raises Red Flag on Donald's Behavior: 'Lives Could Be Lost'

Former Trump administration members are sounding the alarm about the potential impacts of a second Donald Trump presidency on the U.S. intelligence community, with one warning that his past behavior could get some people killed if repeated.

Trump is currently seeking the 2024 Republican nomination for president as part of his bid to win a second term in the White House. While he has not yet won enough delegates to be named the presumptive nominee, he has consistently polled well ahead of all other candidates and has won every state primary race so far this year, leading many to consider his nomination an inevitability.

As his campaign continues, reports have continually emerged about plans that his allies are putting together that would significantly reshape parts of the federal government, including the hiring of staffers vetted for loyalty to Trump. The former president has also discussed plans to implement a "truth and reconciliation commission" which he claimed would feature a "10-point plan to dismantle the deep state." One of the points in this plan would involve removing employees from intelligence agencies.

"We will clean out all of the corrupt actors in our national security and intelligence apparatus, and there are plenty of them," he said in March 2023. "The departments and agencies that have been weaponized will be completely overhauled."

In an article published on Monday, Politico reported that such plans are being drafted for key U.S. intelligence agencies in the event of a second Trump administration, with the outlet citing numerous former staffers who warned that the former president will "push even harder to replace people perceived as hostile to his political agenda with inexperienced loyalists."

Politico spoke to 18 former Trump staffers and aides about their worries surrounding their former boss's potential reelection. One of these staffers who spoke to the outlet was Dan Coats who served as director of national intelligence under Trump from 2017 to 2019. Coats was let go from the position after frequently taking stances that were at odds with Trump. He has since emerged as a vocal critic of the former president, and told Politico about his grave worries moving forward, given Trump's history of allegedly mishandling sensitive national security documents.

"People's lives could be lost," Coats told Politico, referring to sources who provide the U.S. with critical pieces of intelligence.

Coats was speaking in reference to the allegations that Trump mishandled classified documents, which he wrongfully retained after leaving the White House and stored at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. The investigation into the matter resulted in a criminal indictment last June from the Department of Justice (DOJ) against Trump on 37 counts, including 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information.

The former president has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and claimed that he had a broad authority to declassify the materials before he took them from the White House.

Newsweek reached out to Trump's office via email for comment on Monday afternoon. Any responses received will be added to this story in a later update.