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Trump Criticized For Misplacing Binder With Russian Intel
- By The Financial District
- Dec 18, 2023
- 2 min read
A binder containing highly classified information related to Russian election interference went missing at the end of Donald Trump’s presidency, raising alarms among intelligence officials that some of the most closely guarded national security secrets from the US and its allies could be exposed, according to sources familiar with the matter as reported by Jeremy Herb, Katie Bo Lillis, and Natasha Bertrand of CNN.
The binder had raw intelligence that the US and its NATO allies collected from Russian assets, including sources who backed the US assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to help Trump win the 2016 election.
Its disappearance was so concerning that intelligence officials briefed Senate Intelligence Committee leaders last year about the materials and the government’s efforts to retrieve them.
The missing intelligence does not appear to have been found.
The binder had raw intelligence that the US and its NATO allies collected from Russian assets, including sources who backed the US assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to help Trump win the 2016 election.
The intelligence was so sensitive that lawmakers and their aides were able to review the material only at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. The binder was last seen at the White House during Trump’s final days in office.
Trump had ordered it brought there so he could declassify documents related to the FBI’s Russia investigation. Then, it vanished.
Under the care of then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, the binder was scoured by Republican aides working to redact the most sensitive information so it could be declassified and released publicly.
The Russian intelligence was just a small part of the collection of documents in the binder, described as being 10 inches thick and containing reams of information about the FBI’s “Crossfire Hurricane” investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia.
But the raw intelligence on Russia was among its most sensitive classified materials, and top Trump administration officials repeatedly tried to block the former president from releasing the documents, as reported by Evan Perez and Zachary Cohen for CNN.
