A binder containing high-level classified information that included intelligence about Russian interference in the U.S. election disappeared late in former President Trump's term, a CNN investigation reported today.
The classified binder included highly classified materials with best-kept state secrets and details of intelligence sources belonging to the United States and its allies. Intelligence officials briefed the heads of the Senate Intelligence Committee last year about the materials in the binder and the administration's efforts to find them, but so far they have not been found.
Among the information in the binder in question were intelligence information about Russian agents, including sources and methods of operation, and intelligence reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to help elect Trump in the 2016 election. The materials were so secret that they could only be viewed at CIA headquarters in Virginia.
Former President Trump, Photo: AP
The last time the binder was reportedly seen was at the White House during Trump's final days as president. Trump's team reviewed the classified materials to examine declassifying some of them for public release. Copies of the materials even circulated among Trump's advisers and White House officials. The Justice Department has yet to release portions of the screens, despite Trump's request for declassification.
The binder with its various materials is at the center of a struggle between Republicans and Democrats. Each side claimed that Russia assisted the other in the 2016 elections and also accused each side of biasing intelligence reports accordingly.
Meanwhile, the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the binder and the materials inside it remain unanswered. Nor were the materials found in searches of Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, where other classified materials were previously found.
Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Photo: Reuters
The CNN report presented another theory for the mystery that Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows, kept the binder in his safe and later left the White House with him, according to one of his aides, Cassidy Hutchinson.
In closed testimony, Hutchinson said she was "almost certain" that the chief of staff had taken the binder with him. Meadows' lawyer, however, denied the senior adviser's claim and said any connection between the disappearance of the binder and Meadows was "completely wrong," according to a statement he gave to the network. "Midhouz is aware of the legal requirements regarding classified materials and has handled the matter accordingly," the attorney said.
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