Trump's Former Intelligence Director Explains Danger of Mishandling Classified Docs: 'Lives Can Be Lost'

"Our adversaries are out there searching, trying to get this kind of information," Dan Coats said of the type of classified documents that were allegedly stored at Mar-a-Lago

Donald Trump's former director of national intelligence, Dan Coats, says the allegations against the former president are serious, as "lives can be lost" from the mishandling of classified documents like those allegedly stored in closets and bathrooms at Mar-a-Lago.

Coats' comments came during a Thursday night interview on The Source with Kaitlan Collins, which took place shortly after Trump, 77, was hit with three new federal charges in the classified documents case: one additional count of willful retention of national defense information and two additional obstruction counts.

Coats, who previously briefed Trump on a daily basis during his time as the national intelligence director, stepped down from his role in 2019 amid rumors of tension with the former president.

On Thursday, he spoke about the importance of handling classified material with care, telling Collins: "If you walk into the lobby of the CIA and look to the right wall, you see a bunch of stars. Their names aren't there, because they were covert. But they're dead because somebody got their names out, maybe on a classified document."

Related: The Federal Trump Indictment: Full Recap of the Classified Docs Charges and Allegations

At the center of the case against Trump is his handling of classified documents. Prosecutors say more than 100 classified documents were taken from the White House to his Mar-a-Lago resort once his term was over. Among them were those detailing sensitive topics originating from intelligence agencies including the CIA, NSA and Department of Defense.

According to the indictment, those sensitive documents were not kept under lock and key, but were stored in "a ballroom, a bathroom and shower, an office space, [Trump’s] bedroom, and a storage room," all at Mar-a-Lago.

Prosecutors also claim that Trump showed some of the classified documents to people without security clearances. He allegedly showed a classified military map to a member of his PAC and a classified plan to invade Iran to a writer, a publisher and two members of his staff.

Coats said that the U.S. puts "millions of dollars into technology for gathering intelligence. And if that's breached because somebody gets a classified document floating around or knows of it, we lose that information that we are grabbing."

Trump, meanwhile, has said the boxes stored at Mar-a-Lago were merely full of “newspapers," decrying the investigation as a "witch hunt."

But Coats told Collins that the case is about more than "just a bunch of papers."

"Lives can be lost," he said. "Money can be misspent. We can be — our adversaries are out there searching, trying to get this kind of information, because they want to undermine us."

He continued: "It's classified for a reason. It's classified because we don't want others to know what's happening."

Trump was earlier indicted on 37 counts, 31 of which were counts of willful retention of national defense information (a violation of the Espionage Act). The other six include one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice; one count of withholding a document or record; one count of corruptly concealing a document or record; one count of concealing a document in a federal investigation; one count of scheme to conceal; and one count of false statements and representations.

Related: Third Defendant Named in Classified Documents Case Against Donald Trump, Who Faces Three New Charges

Also on Thursday, the head of maintenance at Mar-a-Lago, Carlos De Oliveira, was charged in the case after allegedly admitting to prosecutors that he falsely claimed he did not help Trump move boxes out of his residence.

Originally, De Oliveira allegedly told the FBI that he “never saw anything.” However, a new indictment alleges that De Oliveira told another Mar-a-Lago employee that “the boss” wanted to delete a server containing surveillance footage.

De Oliveira, 56, has been charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice, altering, destroying, mutilating a document, and false statements, as of Thursday. New court documents also identify De Oliveira as someone who allegedly assisted Trump aide Waltine "Walt" Nauta (who is also charged in the case) in reportedly moving about 30 boxes from Trump’s residence to a storage room.

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