The same kind of classified folder turned over by Donald Trump's lawyers to federal officials earlier this month is on full display in the lobby bar at Manhattan's Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue — and has been there for at least several months.
Trump's lawyers earlier surrendered an empty "Classified Evening Summary" folder that Trump had stashed in his Mar-a-Lago bedroom after the Justice Department issued a subpoena for it.
A Trump attorney claimed the former president was simply using the folder to block light from a phone from shining on his bed. Yet Trump has boasted in a post on Truth Social that he snatched “hundreds of folders” marked “confidential” or “classified” as a "cool keepsake" — but claimed he didn’t keep the documents they had held.
The same kind of Classified Evening Summary folder remained this week on open display behind glass next to a small table at the 45 Wine and Whiskey Bar in the Trump Tower lobby. Next to it is a Situation Room brochure marked FOUO — For Official Use Only.
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The FBI has declined to comment on the situation in the past.
Noah Bookbinder, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said after the existence of the Trump Tower classified folder was reported last year that it was sign of the former president's “contemptuous attitude” about the national security system and his belief that he “doesn’t have to follow the rules."
Classified materials are supposed to be turned over to the National Archives at the end of a presidential administration, though Trump moved several boxes of secret information to his Mar-a-Lago home. Since then, a smaller volume of classified information has also been turned over by former vice president Mike Pence and President Joe Biden from his time in the Obama administration.
While the Situation Room brochure next to the classified folder in the bar is not classified, federal rules regulate the handling of papers marked “for official use only.” FOUO information “should be handled in a manner that provides assurances that unauthorized persons do not gain access,” according to federal guidelines.
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After the brochure was reported, former FBI official Peter Strzok quipped that a bar “sure isn’t an 'official use."
It’s not entirely certain if the Trump Tower display is authentic, though the folder and brochure both appear to have been used, and the folder has the same label as the one turned over to the Justice Department from Mar-a-Lago. The Trump Tower bartender has said she was unaware of the history of the display.
The Trump Organization could not immediately be reached for comment.