‘They Are So F*cked’: Photo Showing Top Secret Docs Strewn Across the Carpet at Mar-a-Lago Draws Mockery, Dire Predictions

Joe DePaoloAug 31st, 2022, 8:28 am

A photo included in the DOJ’s late-night filing which shows top secret documents strewn across the carpet at Mar-a-Lago is drawing a ton of reaction on social media — with many observers on both sides of the aisle mocking former President Donald Trump and surmising that the picture can only hurt his cause.

The stunning photo has racked up thousands of retweets in the hours since its release, with Twitter pundits calling out everything from the clearly marked “Top Secret/SCI” cover pages, to the carpet that seems to have been ripped straight out of Atlantic City circa 1982, to the framed Time Magazine cover pages in the corner of the shot.

To be clear, the DOJ filing indicates that these documents were not actually found lying on the carpet as depicted. Rather, they were “recovered from a container in the ’45 office.'”

Nonetheless, the picture has garnered a ton of reaction:

hahahahahaha holy shit they are so fucked https://t.co/FJnTrvrVhy

— kilgore trout, death to putiner (@KT_So_It_Goes) August 31, 2022

This is the kind of photo that makes people with security clearances start to gag on their own tongues in my experience.

Those cover sheets all translate into “handle these right, or lose your clearance, job, or liberty.” And on the floor is not where they are supposed to be… https://t.co/SjM3IMz3Qn

— Alex Wellerstein (@wellerstein) August 31, 2022

What a foolish game Trump was playing. https://t.co/WGc4fOqwhW

— Cernovich (@Cernovich) August 31, 2022

As somebody who had a clearance for the better part of 35 years, this picture gives me hives https://t.co/Ef7IXDs5M2

— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) August 31, 2022

The carpet is Fred Flintstone’s idea of the floor coverings in Kubla Khan’s pleasure dome. It’s the comic relief in this horror story.

— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) August 31, 2022

Good morning to everyone except the owner of the subject PREMISES, which was recently found to contain physical documents and records constituting evidence, contraband, fruits of crime, or other items illegally possessed in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 793, 2071, or 1519, viz.: pic.twitter.com/vQ0IYwgcnx

— George Conway🌻 (@gtconway3d) August 31, 2022

Some subtle indications here that a few of these documents were actually classified pic.twitter.com/7Z1U4QArW6

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) August 31, 2022

Is this bad? This looks bad. pic.twitter.com/jkpdUa4OdJ

— Claude Taylor (@TrueFactsStated) August 31, 2022

DOJ gives Judge Cannon this photo of material seized by the FBI in its Aug 8 search of Mar-a-Lago.

On the FBI receipt, item 2A was noted as “Various classified/TS/SCI documents.”

(This is definitely not what declassified documents typically look like.) pic.twitter.com/dqVk2wdoJP

— Steven Portnoy (@stevenportnoy) August 31, 2022

The photo that DOJ attached is also pretty damning. These are not esoteric markings in the header saying these docs are classified.

These are bright red and yellow folders screaming TOP SECRET/SCI. pic.twitter.com/atCGSGAwiS

— S.V. Dáte (@svdate) August 31, 2022

With Trump, its always worse than you thought – over to those Rs defending him – is this how you keep classified records in your office ⁦@EliseStefanik⁩ ? And this is after his lawyers told DOJ he didn’t have anymore classified docs… pic.twitter.com/x6HhvibrSZ

— Barbara Comstock (@BarbaraComstock) August 31, 2022