In a surprising turn of events, a binder reportedly containing highly classified intelligence on Russia's attempts to interfere in the 2016 elections that disappeared in the final days of Donald Trump's presidency, remains missing over three years later. The binder had information so sensitive that it was kept in a safe within another safe at the CIA headquarters.
This highly sensitive binder included a copious amount of documents related to the FBI's investigation into the Trump-Russia connection, including intelligence on Russia's meddling in the 2016 elections. Trump had ordered these documents to be sent to the White House in his last days as president, hoping to declassify this potentially incriminating information to affirm his allegations that the FBI's investigation was unjust.
The binder gave rise to a frantic race to redact and declassify these documents as President Biden was to soon take office. Mark Meadows, former White House Chief of Staff, attempted to initiate a final Privacy Act review anticipating the information would be released soon. However, the Justice Department still retains these documents, undecalssified.
There were the speculations that the search for classified documents at Trump's Mar-a-Lago in August 2022 was evidence of the FBI’s attempts to retrieve the missing binder, however, it was confirmed that the Mar-a-Lago search was unrelated to this missing binder.
Twitter Post On Top Secret Trump-Russia Investigation Binder Still Missing
The impact this binder could have, if it fell into the wrong hands, cannot be underestimated due to the sensitive nature of its content. This information could reveal ‘sources and methods’, considered to be one of the most confidential information the U.S government possesses. Its release could put human sources at a great risk, expose clandestine access to certain computer networks, and could potentially harm international relations if the revealed information had been gathered by NATO allies.
As a result, the disappearance of this binder has caused significant alarm amongst intelligence officials and has even spurred Senate Intelligence Committee briefings on the situation. However, the binder's actual location still remains unconfirmed.
