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.
