Sensitive docs made available to entire agency under Biden, Trump
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Then-President-elect Trump and then-President Biden in the Oval Office of the White House in November. Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Sensitive documents were uploaded during the Biden Administration to a Google Drive folder that was "improperly" shared with thousands of federal workers, one share occurring only three weeks ago, the Washington Post first reported Sunday.
Why it matters: The GSA Office of Inspector General recently learned during an ongoing audit about the uploading of what was mostly unclassified but confidential information that was accessible to all GSA staff, a source familiar told Axios.
- A GSA spokesperson, Jeff White, told Axios the documents did not contain classified information and it was not believed any files were uploaded during the second Trump administration.
- The incident "suggests a pattern of sloppy handling of sensitive information that spans both the Trump and Biden administrations," per the Post, noting a special counsel report last year found Biden kept classified documents at his home in Delaware — though no charges were brought against him.
- Trump was facing criminal charges over classified documents found at his Mar-A-Lago home, but a federal judge dismissed the case in July as she cited the "unlawful appointment and funding of special counsel Jack Smith." Trump had pleaded not guilty in the case.
Driving the news: The latest incident to emerge dates back to 2021 when a folder was uploaded to a Google Workspace at the General Services Administration using the wrong settings, the source told Axios Sunday.
- Among the information uploaded to the folder were White House floor plans, "details of a proposed blast door for the White House visitor center" and bank account information for a vendor who helped at a briefing, per the Post, which cited a review of internal records. The Post reported the briefing as occurring under Trump, but the source told Axios it occurred in 2024 under Biden.
Zoom in: "Nine of the 15 files shared in the Google Drive folder were marked CUI for 'controlled unclassified information,' which refers to 'sensitive information that does not meet the criteria for classification but must still be protected,'" per the Post.
- Workers had since the start of Trump's second term uploaded three items to the folder that was accessible to all at the GSA, according to the outlet.
What they're saying: White said in an emailed statement Monday that the agency employs a variety of risk mitigation techniques and safeguards for employees and uses software to routinely scan the agency's shared drive platform and "automatically limit access to materials that may have improper sharing" settings.
- "The documents discovered during the audit did not contain classified information. GSA officials were notified of the issue on April 14 and initiated corrective actions to limit access to the materials on April 15," the spokesperson added.
- Representatives for the White House and Biden did not immediately respond to Axios' requests for comment in the evening.
Go deeper: Trump is returned classified documents from the dismissed federal case against him
Editor's note: This article has been corrected to reflect that the Post reported that GSA employees have shared (not uploaded) three items since the start of Trump's term, and that a GSA official now says the uploads to the shared Google Drive file are believed to have occurred entirely during the Biden administration, including the vendor's back account information.
