The mystery of the missing folder: how a folder of raw russian intelligence data disappeared from the White House safe on the last day of Trump's presidency

At the end of former US President Donald Trump's presidency a folder containing highly classified information about russian interference in the Russia's interference in the election. Who was involved in the disappearance of this folder and where it might be now were found out by CNN journalists, UNN reports. Details

Details

A folder with highly classified information, related to Russian interference in the election disappeared at the end of Donald Trump's presidency. Donald Trump's presidency. According to CNN sources, this story caused such a level of concern that intelligence officials last last year informed the leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee about the missing materials.

Any further declassification would reveal confidential methods of intelligence gathering, damage relations with foreign partners, jeopardize the actions of the U.S. intelligence community operations of the United States intelligence community, and potentially violate court orders restricting the dissemination of FISA information... (i) jeopardize confidential human sources.

According to CNN sources, the folder contained raw intelligence gathered by the United States and its NATO allies on Russians and Russian agents, including sources and methods that were based on on the U.S. government's assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin was trying to to help Trump win the 2016 election.

However, Russian intelligence was only a a small part of the collection of documents in this 10-inch-thick folder. It contained a wealth of information about the FBI's Hurricane of Crossfire investigation into the Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia. But the raw intelligence on Russia was some of the most sensitive classified materials, and senior Trump administration officials Trump administration officials repeatedly tried to block the former president from releasing the the documents.

More than two years after Trump left office, the missing intelligence left office, the missing intelligence has not been found.

How the secret folder disappeared

The last time the folder was seen in the White House was during during Trump's last days as President. The day before he left office, Trump ordered the Trump issued an order to declassify most of the contents of the folder, which triggering a flurry of activity in the last 48 hours of his presidency. Several copies of the of the redacted folder were created at the White House with plans to distribute them around Washington to Washington, D.C., to Republicans in Congress and right-wing journalists.

On January 19, 2021, Trump issued an an order to declassify "a binder of materials related to the the Federal Bureau of Investigation's investigation of Hurricane Crossfire."

The White House planned to distribute the declassified documents throughout Washington, including to conservative journalist John Solomon, who is a Trump ally. But Trump's order did not lead to its to be made public. Copies were first sent out and then feverishly removed at the behest of White House lawyers, who demanded additional revisions before the document was released.

Judging by the CNN investigation, the last time the folder was picked up was by the then White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. 

A few minutes before the inauguration of Joe Biden's inauguration, Meadows rushed to the Department of Justice to hand over a redacted copy for a final review. Many years later, the Justice Department has not yet released all of the documents, despite Trump's order to declassify them. to declassify them. Additional copies with varying levels of redaction have been deposited in the National Archives.

However, the unredacted version of the binder, which containing classified raw intelligence data disappeared during the last chaotic hours of the Trump White House. chaotic hours of the Trump White House. The circumstances of its disappearance remain shrouded in mystery. mystery.

The folder was not among the classified items found during a search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort last year, according to a a U.S. official familiar with the matter, who said the FBI was not specifically looking for Russia-related intelligence when it obtained the search warrant. warrant for the former president's residence last year.

In a June indictment against Trump regarding the mishandling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago also does not contain any reference to the binder or the missing Russian intelligence.

Who has the classified file now

Among the alleged misappropriators of the folder with Meadows' assistant, Cassidy Hutchinson, is among the alleged appropriators of the secret documents. However, in testimony to Congress and in her memoirs, she claims that the secret folder was Meadows himself. She said he could have taken home an unredacted version of the binder. She also said that he kept it in a safe,  and that she saw him leave the White House with the binder with her own eyes. House.

Meadows' lawyer, strongly denies this accusation. He insists that Meadows clearly knew and followed the requirements for the proper of the proper handling of classified material.

Any such material that he worked with or had in his possession handled or in his possession were handled accordingly, and any suggestion that he is responsible for any missing folder or other classified information is completely incorrect. ," Meadows' lawyer, George Terwilliger, said in a statement to CNN.

Why the declassified data from the folder was never published.

The CIA, FBI, National Archives, and Office of the Director of National Intelligence of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment on this story. A spokeswoman for the of the Senate Intelligence Committee declined to comment. Hutchinson's lawyer also also declined to comment. Trump's spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

The missing folder is at the heart of one of the most controversial battles fought behind behind the scenes by then-President Trump. Despite fierce opposition from his own national security officials, Trump his own national security officials, Trump spent years trying to declassify to declassify material that he claimed would prove his claims that the FBI's the FBI's Russia and campaign investigations were a hoax.

Last July, Meadows said in an interview with interview with Solomon that he turned over the documents to the Justice Department out of "an abundance of out of "an abundance of caution.

We gave them these declassified documents - I want to emphasize that they were declassified documents - for final redaction of some of this personal information with instructions that they go ahead and distribute it. We fully expected them to do that, that they would do that in a few days at most, but here we are several years later. 

For years after Trump left office, his Trump left office, his allies sought the redacted binder so they could release it, suing the Department of Justice and the National Archives earlier this year. And Trump's lawyers are now seeking access to classified intelligence from the 2016 election assessment as they prepare for his defense against charges of trying to undo the 2020 election.