Donald Trump's disclosures of classified information

Handling, storage, and disposition of U.S. government records The Presidential Records Act establishes that presidential records belong to the United States and must be surrendered to the Archivist of the United States at the end of a president's term of office (or second term of office, if consecutive). The law governs the retention and management of records "created or received" by the president, the vice president, their staffs, and certain other parts of the administration. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the agency responsible for the execution of provisions of the law, as well as other laws related to records management. Classified material Policies governing the handling of classified records throughout the executive branch have been codified in a series of executive orders, with the most recent being Barack Obama's Executive Order 13526. Several statutes are also in play. The disclosure of information of national security interest is unlawful under the Espionage Act of 1917, even though that act makes no reference to the classification system, having predated its creation. Information related to nuclear security is governed by the Atomic Energy Act, which deems nuclear information to have been "born secret". Unauthorized removal and retention of classified information of the United States government is a criminal offense under U.S. federal law; it has been a felony since the enactment of S. 139 (FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act of 2017), a law signed by President Donald Trump in January 2018 which increased the maximum term of imprisonment for this offense from one year to five. == Handling and destruction of records during presidency ==

Although under the Presidential Records Act official presidential records must be preserved and retained, Trump frequently destroyed and disposed of papers while president. Advisers regularly saw him destroy documents at the White House and Mar-a-Lago, with staffers from the Office of the Staff Secretary or the Oval Office Operations team retrieving piles of torn paper. Staff from the White House Office of Records Management pieced documents back together, using clear tape. Handling and declassifications of classified material During his four years as U.S. president, Trump took a cavalier attitude toward U.S. classified information. After U.S. intelligence assessed in 2017 that the Russian government sought to manipulate the 2016 presidential election and promote Trump's candidacy, Trump ranted against what he claimed was a "deep state" and viewed the assessment as an insult. 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. His national security adviser, John Bolton, would later describe him as "a collector of things that he thought were of interest to him", including "classified documents". Bolton said Trump routinely kept documents from intelligence briefings and "it became the practice" of his advisers to retrieve as many as they could. Trump's erratic behavior led to mistrust from the U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies, who were also alarmed by Trump's mixing with guests during his frequent trips to Mar-a-Lago, viewing the practice as "ripe to be exploited by a foreign spy service eager for access to the epicenter of American power". The SCIF was removed after he left office. Stephanie Grisham, who was White House press secretary from July 2019 to April 2020 and was the First Lady's press secretary before and after that, later said: "I watched him show documents to people at Mar-a-Lago on the dining room patio. So, he has no respect for classified information, never did." 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. However, news organizations were told that these documents were still classified, and Trump's then-chief of staff Mark Meadows, in a sworn federal court filing, said that Trump had told him that Trump's "statements on Twitter were not self-executing declassification orders and do not require the declassification or release of any particular documents". In January 2021, Meadows sought to declassify unreleased Crossfire Hurricane materials which included text messages between former FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. Meadows dismissed concerns from the FBI of compromising the bureau, stating that Trump intended to declassify and release them. Trump declassified them after the White House settled with the FBI on redactions. However, Department of Justice (DOJ) officials warned Meadows that his plan to give the materials to conservative journalists could violate privacy law. When Trump left office, President Joe Biden barred him from receiving the intelligence briefings traditionally given to former presidents, citing Trump's "erratic behavior". == 2017 Oval Office incident with Russia ==

meets with Lavrov (pictured) and Kislyak on May 10, 2017. A photographer from Russian News Agency TASS was present, but no other press. President Donald Trump discussed classified information during an Oval Office meeting on May 10, 2017, with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and the Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. The information was provided by a U.S. ally and concerned a planned Islamic State (ISIL) operation, providing sufficient detail that the Russians could use to deduce the identity of the ally and the manner in which it was collected, according to current and former government officials. The meeting had been closed to the U.S. press, although a photographer from the Russian press contingent was present. Origin of intelligence The May 15 The Washington Post article The intelligence was so sensitive that it hadn't even been shared among key U.S. allies. It was later reported that Israel was the source of the information. Israel did not confirm or deny the report but released a statement stating full confidence in the intelligence sharing relationships with the United States. Ynetnews, an Israeli news website, had previously reported on January 12 that in a meeting held in early January (during Trump's presidential transition), U.S. intelligence officials advised Israeli Mossad and other intelligence officials to "be careful" when transferring intelligence information to the Trump White House and administration until the possibility of Russian influence over Trump, suggested by Christopher Steele's report (commonly referred as the Steele dossier), has been fully investigated. U.S. officials were concerned that the information, particularly about sensitive intelligence sources, could be passed to Russia and then to Iran. The report was described as "shocking" and "horrifying" by some commentators and former U.S. intelligence officials. 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. The classified information Trump shared came from a source described as the most valuable of any current sources on any current external plotting, according to The Wall Street Journal. Reporting On May 15, 2017, The Washington Post, citing anonymous sources, reported that the intelligence was about an ISIL plot to stealthily use laptops as weapons that can then explode in Western countries, and that a Middle Eastern ally provided the intelligence, which was codeword-classified, meaning that its distribution was restricted only to those who were explicitly cleared to read it, and was not intended to be shared beyond the United States and certain allies. and Reuters. and raised questions on Trump's respect for the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing agreement. 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". All of these actions are possible legal grounds towards efforts to impeach Donald Trump. Aides privately defended the President, stating that Trump did not have sufficient interest or knowledge of the intelligence gathering process to leak specific sources or methods of intelligence gathering; National Security Advisor H. R. McMaster publicly maintained that Trump had not been briefed on the origins of the intelligence in question and therefore could not have compromised the source. According to conservative commentator Erick Erickson, multiple sources have stated that Trump's actions were far worse than what had been reported, and that one of the Posts sources was a strong supporter of Trump who believed it was necessary to publicly disclose the story because of Trump's inability to accept criticism. White House response White House staff initially denied the veracity of the report during the evening of May 15. In a press briefing on the same day, McMaster denied The Washington Post report, saying, "At no time, at no time, were intelligence sources or methods discussed. And the president did not disclose any military operations that were not already publicly known. Two other senior officials who were present, including the secretary of state, remember the meeting the same way and have said so. And their on-the-record accounts should outweigh those of anonymous sources." He concluded by saying, "I was in the room, it didn't happen." McMaster said that "it was wholly appropriate to share" the information because of a similar ISIL plot two years earlier. Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategy Dina Habib Powell flatly rejected the Post article, saying: "This story is false. The president only discussed the common threats that both countries faced." Israeli response Israeli intelligence officials were reportedly horrified by the disclosure. In public comments, Israeli officials including intelligence minister Yisrael Katz, Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer, and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said the intelligence services of the two countries would continue to share information, with Dermer saying "Israel has full confidence in our intelligence-sharing relationship with the United States." However, speaking privately, unnamed Israeli sources said they might need to reassess what intelligence they share with the U.S. Israeli officials stated that it is Israel's "worst fears confirmed" about Donald Trump. The officials also stated that Israeli intelligence officers were "boiling mad and demanding answers" on its current intelligence-sharing agreement with the US. On May 22, while visiting Israel, Trump appeared to confirm both the disclosure and the identity of Israel as the source, telling the press: "Folks, folks, just so you understand, just so you understand, I never mentioned the word or the name Israel during that conversation." It had been widely reported before May 22 that Israel was the source. On May 16, Trump implicitly confirmed a disclosure in a tweet, claiming that:As President, I wanted to share with Russia (at an openly scheduled W.H. meeting) which I have the absolute right to do, facts pertaining ... to terrorism and airline flight safety. Humanitarian reasons, plus I want Russia to greatly step up their fight against ISIS & terrorism. Reactions U.S. Congress Speaker of the House Republican Paul Ryan said through a spokesman that he "hopes for a full explanation of the facts from the administration". Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said: "The president owes the intelligence community, the American people and Congress a full explanation." Foreign countries Reaction from foreign countries was generally negative. A top European intelligence official said that sharing of intelligence with the United States would cease if the country confirms that Trump did indeed share classified information with Russia, because sharing intel with Americans while Trump is president could put their sources at risk. Burkhard Lischka, a member of the German Bundestag's intelligence oversight committee, said that if Trump "passes this information to other governments at will, then Trump becomes a security risk for the entire western world". Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova denied the U.S. media reports. Academics Several professors of law, political science, and international relations, as well as intelligence experts, were alarmed by Trump's disclosure. Intelligence expert Amy Zegart of Stanford University noted that Trump revealed code word intelligence, which is the highest layer of classification, even higher than the "top secret" classification. Such information, if revealed, could reasonably be expected to cause "exceptionally grave damage" to the national security of the United States. She wrote, "so just how bad is the damage? On a scale of 1 to 10—and I'm just ball parking here—it's about a billion." The effects could be "disastrous". another legal scholar, Professor Stephen Vladeck, wrote that the president's "constitutional power over national security information" is not unfettered and that Trump's disclosure "may actually have been illegal under federal law." Harvard Law emeritus professor Alan Dershowitz called the incident "the most serious charge ever made against a sitting president" and said that it was "devastating", with "very serious political, diplomatic, and international implications". Aftermath Leaking of sensitive information by the U.S. has led to the review of intelligence sharing arrangements by key allies, and also a review by the Department of Justice regarding the leaks from the United States. 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. The source had refused an earlier offer to extract him. The extraction, or "exfiltration", was carried out sometime in 2017. CNN and other news sources reported on this extraction in September 2019, along with details about the Russian. One source told CNN that the decision to remove him was based in part on concern about the Trump administration's mishandling of classified information. A CIA spokesperson said the news reports were "misguided speculation", and a White House spokesperson said the reporting was "incorrect" and "has the potential to put lives in danger," although they did not specify why they considered the reporting flawed. == 2019 tweet revealing spy-satellite capabilities ==

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. Within hours of the tweet, aerospace experts, had determined the photograph came from National Reconnaissance Office's USA-224, a highly classified reconnaissance satellite that is part of the KH-11 series of multi-billion-dollar spy satellites. 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. In 2023, John Bolton, who had been Trump's national security adviser, said of the tweet: "There's utterly no excuse for that. There's no conceivable reason for that, except it made him feel good to be able to do it." == Other disclosures of intelligence ==

Disclosures while president 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. This was during a time when Trump was warning of a possible "major, major conflict" with North Korea. The locations of nuclear submarines are a closely guarded secret, even from the Navy command itself: "As a matter of national security, only the captains and crew of the submarines know for sure where they're located." On May 24, 2017, Britain strongly objected to the United States leaking to the press information about the Manchester Arena bombing, including the identity of the attacker and a picture of the bomb, before it had been publicly disclosed, jeopardizing the investigation. British Prime Minister Theresa May issued a public rebuke, and British police temporarily stopped passing information to U.S. counterparts. 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. This led U.S. intelligence officials to express concern that Trump "may have improperly discussed classified intelligence with Russia." released by Trump in a tweet 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. There's nobody. What we have is incredible." Later disclosures 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 April 2021, Anthony Pratt, an Australian billionaire, met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. Trump allegedly told him about U.S. nuclear submarines, and Pratt communicated the information to journalists and over a dozen foreign officials. In 2023, US. federal prosecutors and FBI agents interviewed Pratt twice. Trump allegedly also told Pratt about private calls with the leaders of Ukraine and Iraq. == End of presidency and beyond ==

Last weeks of presidency Trump's presidential term ended at noon on January 20, 2021. His departure from the White House was "rushed and chaotic" because he spent his final days in office attempting to overturn his defeat in the 2020 United States presidential election, his false allegations of voter fraud having led to the January 6 United States Capitol attack and his second impeachment. In the last weeks of the Trump presidency, White House staff quit and aides resigned, thus leaving the proper preservation of records to the small number of assistants still in place after they left. A former Trump aide said they were "30 days behind what a typical administration would be". White House staff secretary Derek Lyons attempted to maintain an orderly preservation of records in the West Wing, but he departed the administration in late December, and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Trump took little interest in doing so, leaving the task to others. Archival of presidential records 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. Philbin. On June 19, 2022, Trump notified NARA that he had made former Trump administration official Kash Patel and journalist John Solomon his "representatives for access to Presidential records of my administration". After Trump left the White House in 2021, NARA began an effort to retrieve documents covered under the Presidential Records Act that Trump had retained. This eventually turned into the FBI investigation into Donald Trump's handling of government documents after NARA discovered classified documents in the initial batch of 15 boxes they retrieved from Trump. After Trump certified he was returning all remaining government documents in accordance with a grand jury subpoena, the FBI obtained evidence that Trump still possessed documents and had intentionally hid them from his lawyers and the FBI. This led to a search by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), who executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago on August 8, 2022, and found thousands of documents including classified and national security related documents. As of August 2022, the FBI has retrieved hundreds of documents marked with some level of classification both before and as a result of the search warrant. In November 2022, the FBI investigation was taken over by the Smith special counsel investigation. Indictment On June 8, 2023, Trump was federally indicted on 37 charges related to documents he retained after leaving office. This was the first time a former U.S. president faced federal charges. Missing binder In December 2023, CNN reported that: 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. Several copies of the binder, with varying levels of redactions, ended up in the Justice Department and the National Archives, but an unredacted version went missing. == See also ==