'Missing' documents: toevallig die van 'Crossfire Hurricane' (het onderzoek naar de samenwerking van de Trump campaign met Rusland)
quote:
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 binder was last seen at the White House during Trump’s final days in office. The former president had ordered it brought there so he could declassify a host of documents related to the FBI’s Russia investigation. 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.
The day before leaving office, Trump issued an order declassifying most of the binder’s contents, setting off a flurry of activity in the final 48 hours of his presidency. Multiple copies of the redacted binder were created inside the White House, with plans to distribute them across Washington to Republicans in Congress and right-wing journalists.
Wat een verhaal ook weer ....
quote:
The White House had planned to distribute the declassified documents around Washington, including to Trump-allied conservative journalist John Solomon. But Trump's order did not lead to its release - and earlier this year Solomon sued the Justice Department and National Archives for access to the documents.
His court filings provide colorful details of the last-minute scramble.
Solomon claims that on the night of January 19, Meadows invited him to the White House to review several hundred pages of the declassified binder. One of Solomon's staffers was even allowed to leave the White House with the declassified records in a paper bag.
"Mr. Solomon's staff began setting up a scanning operation for the complete set of documents to be released the next morning," Solomon's attorneys wrote in a court filing last month. "But as they set up the equipment, they received a call from the White House asking that the documents -- still under embargo -- be returned because the White House wished to make some additional redactions to unclassified information under the Privacy Act."
Hutchinson writes in her book that Cipollone told her after 10:30 p.m. on January 19 to have Meadows retrieve the binders that had been given to Solomon and a right-wing columnist. "The Crossfire Hurricane binders are a complete disaster. They're still full of classified information," Hutchinson writes that Cipollone told her. "Those binders need to come back to the White House. Like, now."
The documents were returned the next morning, on January 20, after they were picked up by a Secret Service agent in a Whole Foods grocery bag, according to Hutchinson.
Etc etc ...
[ Bericht 2% gewijzigd door Kijkertje op 16-12-2023 04:57:15 ]
“The fundamental cause of the trouble in the modern world today is that the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.”— Bertrand Russell