Donald Trump's disclosures of classified information
A number of incidents in which the president disclosed classified information to foreign powers and private individuals have become publicly known, sometimes with distinct national security and diplomatic consequences.
[1] Notably, on May 10, 2017, Trump disclosed classified information to Russian government representatives, creating political and security concerns in the United States and its allies, especially Israel.
[2] Other questionable behaviors during his presidency have included Trump's sharing of national defense information on social media and private disclosures, both known and unknown.
[1] Months into his presidency, Trump revealed highly classified information to Russian officials in an Oval Office meeting, forcing the CIA to extract a key Moscow source developed over years.
[1] In a July 2018 summit in Helsinki with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Trump accepted Russia's denials that it had interfered in the 2016 election, rejecting the U.S. government's conclusions to the contrary.
[1][17] Three years later, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency formally declassified the satellite image that Trump had tweeted, following a FOIA request, which required a Pentagon-wide review to determine if the briefing slide could be made public.
[11] In 2017, after North Korea conducted a ballistic-missile test, at least one Mar-a-Lago patron posted photos on social media of Trump talking on his cell phone and conferring with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the resort's dining room.
[16][11] During Trump's presidency, a sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF) was operational at Mar-a-Lago for communications with the White House Situation Room and Pentagon.
"[22] In October 2020, Trump said on Twitter that he had "fully authorized the total declassification" of all documents related to what he called "the Russia hoax" and the Hillary Clinton email controversy.
[23] In January 2021, Meadows sought to declassify unreleased Crossfire Hurricane[clarification needed] materials which included text messages between former FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page.
White House staff initially denied the report, but the following day, Trump defended the disclosure, stating that he has the "absolute right" to "share" intelligence with Russia.
They said the disclosure jeopardizes Israel's "arrangement with America which is unique to the world of intelligence sharing" and that Israeli officials were "boiling mad and demanding answers".
[40] According to current and former U.S. officials interviewed by ABC News, Trump's disclosure endangered the life of a spy placed by Israel in ISIL-held territory in Syria.
"[28] Immediately after the meeting,[29] Thomas P. Bossert, assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism, telephoned the directors of the CIA and the NSA to inform them what had occurred.
[28] The incident was seen as a pivot away from traditional American allies, and towards closer relations with Russia,[44][45] and raised questions on Trump's respect for the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing agreement.
[46] Several commentators stated that by releasing classified information to Russia, Trump jeopardized American and allied intelligence sources, breached the trust relationship with America's foreign partners, threatened the long-term national security of the country, and violated his oath of office through "gross negligence".
"[27] The Democratic National Committee issued a statement, which included this: "If Trump weren't president, his dangerous disclosure to Russia could end with him in handcuffs.
"[70] Harvard Law emeritus professor Alan Dershowitz called the incident "the most serious charge ever made against a sitting president"[71] and said that it was "devastating", with "very serious political, diplomatic, and international implications".
[74] Soon after the Oval Office meeting, intelligence officials reportedly became concerned about the safety of a high-level CIA source within the Putin government, and decided to bring him out of Russia.
[2] However, other sources said the concern for his safety was primarily based on a 2017 CIA report about Russian interference in the election, which had such specific information it might make Russia suspect a high-placed spy.
[2] On August 30, 2019, Trump tweeted a classified image of recent damage to Iran's Imam Khomeini Spaceport that supposedly occurred as a result of an explosion during testing of a Safir SLV.
[79] The NGA declassified the original image in 2022, following a Freedom of Information Act request by NPR and an extensive U.S. Department of Defense declassification review of the briefing slide.
"[19] In an April 29, 2017, phone call, Trump told Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte that the U.S. had positioned two nuclear submarines off the coast of North Korea.
[83] In July 2017, after a private meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the 2017 G20 Hamburg summit, Trump took the unusual step of confiscating and keeping his interpreter's notes.
[84][85] In a December 2019 interview with Bob Woodward, Trump stated, "I have built a nuclear — a weapons system that nobody's ever had in this country before," adding, "We have stuff that Putin and Xi have never heard about before.
"[86] In 2021, Trump reportedly told close associates that he regarded some presidential documents, such as correspondence with the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, as his personal property, although U.S. records legally belong to the government.
In the last weeks of the Trump presidency, White House staff quit and aides resigned, leaving a small number of assistants in place who would have been able to properly preserve records.
"[92] The day before he left office, in a letter sent to Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero, Trump designated seven senior Trump administration officials "as his representatives to handle all future requests for presidential records" including his chief of staff Mark Meadows, his White House Counsel Pat A. Cipollone, and Deputy White House Counsel Patrick F.
In December 2023, CNN reported that: A binder containing highly classified information related to Russian election interference went missing at the end of Donald Trump’s presidency, raising alarms among intelligence officials that some of the most closely guarded national security secrets from the US and its allies could be exposed [...] In the two-plus years since Trump left office, the missing intelligence does not appear to have been found.
[...][95]According to the report, in the final days of his presidency, Donald Trump intended to declassify and release publicly multiple documents related to the FBI's Russia investigation.
