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Donald Trump Espionage Foreign Policy Russia Vladimir Putin

Top Secret Intel File On Russia Missing – Last Seen Before Trump Left Office

A file containing classified information about Russia and Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election disappeared in the last days of the Trump administration and has yet to be found, according to a terrifying report from CNN.

The binder contained raw intelligence the US and its NATO allies collected on Russians and Russian agents, including sources and methods that informed the US government’s assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to help Trump win the 2016 election, sources tell CNN.

The intelligence was so sensitive that lawmakers and congressional aides with top secret security clearances were able to review the material only at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, where their work scrutinizing it was itself kept in a locked safe.

The file was last seen at the White House when Trump sought to declassify it for public release. The disgraced former president has long been obsessed with news reports suggesting that the Kremlin actively worked to get him elected instead of then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

Additionally, the Russia binder wasn’t among the classified documents found when the FBI searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in August of last year, raising new questions about what might have become of the dossier.

New information suggests that the file was taken by former chief of staff Mark Meadows, CNN notes.

Cassidy Hutchinson, one of Meadows’ top aides, testified to Congress and wrote in her memoir that she believes Meadows took home an unredacted version of the binder. She said it had been kept in Meadows’ safe and that she saw him leave with it from the White House.

“I am almost positive it went home with Mr. Meadows,” Hutchinson told the January 6 committee in closed-door testimony, according to transcripts released last year.

George Terwilliger, an attorney for Meadows, denied his client is in possession of the file, remarking, “Anyone and any entity suggesting that he is responsible for anything missing does not have facts and should exercise great care before making false allegations.”

If the information is now in the hands of the Kremlin, has U.S. national security been compromised? And if so, what long-term ramifications could that pose for the overall security of the United States?

Perhaps members of the Trump administration, including the ex-president, need to be brought before a Senate committee and forced to testify under oath. After all, if they have nothing to hide, they should be eager to cooperate.

 

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Crime Donald Trump Espionage

Trump’s Comments On Israel ‘Giving Prosecutors New Material’ To Convict Him In Classified Docs Case

With his every word about the ongoing battle between Israel and Hamas terrorists who attacked the country a week ago, failed former president Donald Trump is strengthening the criminal case against him for his alleged stealing of classified documents when he left the White House.

Just this week, the Washington Post notes, Trump made the case against him even more airtight by suggesting that he has a “willful disregard for protecting national security secrets.”

During a campaign rally in Florida on Wednesday, the disgraced ex-president, who is facing 91 criminal counts in multiple jurisdictions, remarked:

“I don’t think this has ever been told. They’ll say, ‘Oh, it’s classified information.’ Maybe it is, but I don’t think so.”

The former president then proceeded to tell a story about a U.S. operation in 2020 that killed Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s Quds Force. Trump claimed that Israel was an important partner in the effort but backed out at the last minute. “We had everything all set to go, and the night before it happened, I got a call that Israel would not be participating in this attack,” Trump said. “Nobody’s heard this story before, but I’d like to tell it to Club 47 because you’ve been so loyal and so beautiful.”

Seconds later, Trump told his supporters,  “I can do whatever I want, but I did nothing wrong.”

That’s some deeply flawed logic. If you can do whatever you want, then how could it possibly be wrong? The volume of indictments against Trump certainly suggest he isn’t above the law and he did something illegal in the eyes of the Justice Department.

Even one of Trump’s former attorneys thinks the former president is making a huge mistake with his comments.

“Trump’s public statements erode his defenses enormously,” said Ty Cobb, who served as a White House lawyer in the Trump administration but has become an outspoken public critic of the former president. “Flip-flopping between ‘I had the power’ with the classified documents and “there was a process” — both acknowledge the possession of the classified documents.”

Trump has also seriously undercut his defense during interviews such as the one he gave to NBC’s “Meet the Press” just last month.

Trump kneecapped a key defense strategy his lawyers have raised in that case — that he was fighting the election results based on advice from attorneys.

Trump said in the interview that he decided for himself the election was stolen from him. “It was my decision,” the former president said, though he acknowledged he also listened to lawyers. “You know who I listen to? Myself. I saw what happened.”

Once more, it’s clear that Donald Trump is his own worst enemy and will likely be the primary reason he loses in court and winds up incarcerated for the remainder of his life.

 

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Donald Trump Espionage Foreign Policy Russia

New Questions Raised About Trump Possibly Sharing Intel Info That Led To The Attack On Israel

A 2017 meeting failed former president Donald Trump held in the Oval Office with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak, is once again in the spotlight as questions about how Israel could have been so unprepared for the Hamas terror attack are being raised, with some suggesting that intelligence data Trump shared with the two Russians may have found its way into the hands of Iran, which passed it along to Hamas to aid their planning of the deadly assault launched from the Gaza Strip.

Israel, we later learned, was the source of that intelligence, as NBC noted in May 2017:

The link to Israel was first reported by the New York Times a day after it was disclosed that Trump gave Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov intelligence about a laptop bomb threat and revealed the Syrian city where the information was collected.

And now Senior White House Communications Adviser Andrew Bates is hinting that Trump may have been partially responsible for the Hamas attack that has left over 1,000 Israelis dead.

According to Mediaite, Bates made the claim in response to a Twitter post from former Trump administration official Stephen Miller.

That response from Bates resulted in others suggesting that Trump may be partially to blame for Hamas’ attack.

The ex-president’s niece, Mary, pulled no punches.

Soon there was a deluge of discussion and accusation on Twitter.

It’s important to note that at the moment there is no direct evidence the information Trump shared with the two Russians was used to plan the Hamas attack on Israel, but shouldn’t there at least be congressional investigations into the matter? And if a link can be proven, what additional crimes should Donald Trump be charged with?

 

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Crime Donald Trump Espionage National Security Nukes WTF?!

Jack Smith Has Evidence Trump Shared Top Secret Nuclear Information With A Foreign National

After he left the White House and was residing at his Mar-a-Lago golf resort, multiply-indicted former president Donald Trump allegedly shared highly sensitive information about the U.S. nuclear submarine fleet with the resident of a foreign country, according to a disturbing report from ABC News that could have serious implications for American national security.

Months after leaving the White House, former President Donald Trump allegedly discussed potentially sensitive information about U.S. nuclear submarines with a member of his Mar-a-Lago Club — an Australian billionaire who then allegedly shared the information with scores of others, including more than a dozen foreign officials, several of his own employees, and a handful of journalists, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The potential disclosure was reported to special counsel Jack Smith’s team as they investigated Trump’s alleged hoarding of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, the sources told ABC News. The information could shed further light on Trump’s handling of sensitive government secrets.

Prosecutors and FBI agents have at least twice this year interviewed the Mar-a-Lago member, Anthony Pratt, who runs U.S.-based Pratt Industries, one of the world’s largest packaging companies.

According to sources familiar with the matter, Pratt mentioned to Trump that he believed Australia should begin buying its submarines from the United States, which reportedly led the ex-president to divulge to vital piece of classified information: The number of warheads each U.S. sub carries and how close they can get to their Russian counterparts without being detected.

Such critical information would be invaluable to the Russian navy and the intelligence agencies of other U.S. adversaries because the information is closely held and never disclosed because doing so would dangerously jeopardize the entire American sub fleet.

Pratt then began to disseminate the information Trump told him, ABC News notes.

In emails and conversations after meeting with Trump, Pratt described Trump’s remarks to at least 45 others, including six journalists, 11 of his company’s employees, 10 Australian officials, and three former Australian prime ministers, the sources told ABC News.

While Pratt told investigators he couldn’t tell if what Trump said about U.S. submarines was real or just bluster, investigators nevertheless asked Pratt not to repeat the numbers that Trump allegedly told him, suggesting the information could be too sensitive to relay further, ABC News was told.

The former president faces decades behind bars for illegally removing and storing classified information in unsecured banker’s boxes at his Florida resort. He may also have disseminated or even sold some of the information in those documents to nations such as Russia and Saudi Arabia, both of which Trump has lavished with praise.

Can it be any clearer that Donald Trump need to be placed in custody until his trial has concluded? Every day he remains free he’s a clear and present danger to the national security of this country.

 

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Crime Donald Trump Espionage Justice Department

Jack Smith Has A Powerful New Weapon He Can Use Against Donald Trump

 

An accusation from a former top Homeland Security Department official should have failed, twice-indicted former president Donald Trump terrified, according to an ex-federal prosecutor.

Specifically, Miles Taylor, who was DHS chief of staff in the Trump administration, writes in his new book that Trump shared secret documents related to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi with reporters.

That report led MSNBC host Katie Phang to tell former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade, “NBC is releasing exclusive reporting about ex-Trump aide Miles Taylor in which Miles alleges in 2018, Trump’s press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, described an incident with Trump displaying to reporters classified documents related to journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s death.”

“Do you think Jack Smith has already had a lead on this? I mean, we keep on hearing these things pop up here and there. We saw in the indictment about Bedminster and the writing of a book, and journalists being present, even a PAC person like Susie Wiles. I mean, is this the kind of stuff we think Jack Smith would have a bead on it already?”

“He might, Katie,” McQuade responded. “It could be valuable as what you know is 404(b) evidence; that is evidence of the person’s common scheme or plan.”

McQuade added, “And so, even if he doesn’t charge it, you can use that as evidence to show that Trump is very reckless when he handles classified information. So, every piece of evidence brings value.”

Think about it: According to Taylor, Trump was waving around classified documents that related to the possible crimes of the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. That sort of information is not meant to be shared with anyone who doesn’t have a high-level security clearance.

With each day, Jack Smith’s case against Trump grows stronger. It’ll be fascinating to see the ex-president’s reaction to this latest bombshell.