A Russian intelligence file that reportedly went missing at the end of Donald Trump‘s presidency could “get somebody killed” if it had fallen into the hands of Moscow, a former FBI official has warned.
A binder containing U.S. and NATO-ally “raw intelligence” on Russia and Russian agents was reportedly last seen at the White House during the former president’s final days in office.
Only lawmakers and congressional aides with top-secret security clearances could view the 10-inch-thick “Crossfire Hurricane” document related to Russian meddling in the 2016 election at CIA headquarters in McLean, Virginia. Russia has repeatedly denied interfering in the election, while Trump has called the FBI‘s investigation into the claims a hoax.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and former President Donald Trump in Helsinki, on July 16, 2018. Former FBI official Frank Figliuzzi said a Russian intelligence file that went missing near the end of Trump’s presidency could compromise U.S. assets.
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/Getty Images
The disappearance of the document, has sparked fears that sensitive information could be shared, with a U.S. official telling The New York Timesthe matter was of such concern that the Senate Intelligence Committee was briefed about it.
“We’ve got to know what happened with this binder and more importantly, whether this was a mere accident or whether the intention was to hand it to Russia to expose US Intel sources and methods against Russia,” Frank Figliuzzi, former assistant director for counterintelligence at the FBI, told MSNBC.
“A person who’s positioned and knows who’s reading this, like maybe a Russian official can easily discern sources and methods from it,” he told the network for which he is a contributor. “For example, if it says, ‘on this date, Vladimir Putin had this conversation with this person’— that reveals who the human sources or whether there’s a microphone in Putin’s office or not.
“All of that could literally get somebody killed or cause us to lose well-placed technical methods that that are in place,” he said.
Trump issued an order with the aim of declassifying most of the binder’s contents before he left office, with a source close to the former president telling the New York Times that the binder’s contents captured his attention. A redacted version is available on the FBI website.
During the segment, Figliuzzi suggested there should be a warrant issued to search the home of former White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, who has been blamed for the document’s disappearance by both White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson and Trump himself.
George J. Terwilliger III, a lawyer for Meadows, told the Times the former chief of staff was not responsible and “never took any copy of that binder home at any time.” Newsweek has contacted Terwilliger and the Trump team for comment.
Last week, the former president’s estranged niece, Mary Trump, alleged in a blog post that the former president may have sold or given the document to Russia, without providing any evidence. As previously reported by Newsweek, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung told Newsweek he rejected the claim, saying: “what proof do you have?”
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.