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.
