A binder full of Russian intelligence went missing during Trump's final days in office. His allies are looking for it, too.
Erin Schaff-Pool/Getty Images
- More classified intel — this time about Russia — went missing during Trump's final days, CNN and the New York Times report.
- The binder of intelligence about election interference disappeared, according to a CNN investigation.
- Trump's allies are still looking for the binder and hope to make it public, the outlet reported.
Even more classified intelligence went missing as Donald Trump was leaving the White House in 2021, a CNN investigation found.
A binder full of intelligence about Russia's interference in the 2016 election vanished during Trump's final days in office, CNN reported on Friday, citing more than a dozen anonymous sources. A representative for Trump didn't immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment about the CNN report.
The report was later confirmed by the New York Times, who cited "two people familiar with the matter."
That binder apparently had a lot of information. A court filing from Trump-friendly journalist John Solomon said the binder was "about 2,700 pages and was approximately ten inches thick."
The New York Times reported that the "substance" of the intelligence wasn't considered too sensitive, but the raw materials contained in the binder could be used to "reveal secret sources and methods."
Some of the material inside the binder was so classified, the binder was kept at CIA headquarters in Virginia, CNN reported, and analysis of the intel was kept in a locked safe.
That is, until Trump was leaving office.
On January 19, 2021 — two days before his presidency ended — Trump declassified portions of the binder as part of a flurry of last-minute declassifications and pardons for his allies.
The binder has since gone missing.
This binder isn't referenced in special counsel Jack Smith's sprawling indictment against Trump that accuses him of taking classified intel to Mar-A-Lago and trying to keep the government from getting it back.
Trump's own allies are searching for the binder since they want to make it public, thinking it'll exonerate Trump and help defend his criminal cases, CNN reported.
In his court filing, Solomon writes that he went to the White House in those final hours of Trump's presidency to review the intelligence and plan how to release it with then-Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
The White House even gave Solomon the records "in a paper bag" to scan and prepare to release them on his website, according to the court document.
But that night, Solomon said in the filing, the administration asked for the documents back, so he returned them to the White House.
They've been missing since then, CNN reported.
Months later, Trump named Solomon as one of his representatives to the National Archives. Solomon has since been waging a battle in the courts to get the documents, arguing that the Department of Justice has them.