Alex Holder, the British documentary filmmaker who filmed former President Donald Trump and his family, said Trump would be more likely to reveal the classified documents he had at Mar-a-Lago to his fans in an effort to impress than to actually compromise national security to other nations.
"He's probably not really selling classified documents to the Russians, he's probably just showing them off to people as to how cool it is," Holder said on Tuesday's episode of the Bulwark podcast. "He just loves that adoration."
Records that Trump allegedly took with him to Mar-a-Lago upon leaving the White House have been at the forefront of the highly publicized FBI search of his Florida home. A redacted affidavit unsealed by the courts revealed that federal investigators found more than 180 documents with classified markings.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is reviewing the evidence to assess whether national security risks would be posed by the disclosure of the materials in Trump's possession.
Holder is the filmmaker behind a three-part series following the Trumps, called Unprecedented, for which he was granted rare and close access to the former president and his family.
While some have speculated that the former president might have already shared confidential the information with others, Holder said that based on his observations, Trump is more likely to show it to his fans.
"What Trump does in Mar-a-Lago, why he loves it so much, is that he just sort of walks around where people are having dinner just to get a round of applause," Holder said. "So, he'll just walk into, like, the dinner area—and obviously people are having dinner at different times—and he'll walk in, there will be a cheer and he'll go out and go back in again.
"It's like a sitcom," he said, adding that he found Trump to be an "absolutely extraordinary" yet "very weird, unusual, simple" man.
In June, Holder was subpoenaed by the House committee investigating the Capitol riot. He testified for two hours behind closed doors.
In a new filing submitted late Tuesday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said that federal investigators found twice as many classified documents "in a matter of hours" during the August 8 search than the ones returned by Trump's team on June 3.
The DOJ and Trump are embroiled in a legal battle as to whether his request for an outside special master to oversee the review of evidence should be granted.
Tuesday's court filing also revealed that no one from Trump's team said that the documents produced were declassified or protected by executive privilege when they were turned over in June.
"Counsel handled them in a manner that suggested counsel believed that the documents were classified," the department wrote.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Katherine Fung is a Newsweek reporter based in New York City. Her focus is reporting on U.S. and world politics. ... Read more
