Classified binder on Russian meddling went missing as Trump left office: Reports

A binder containing classified information related to Russian meddling in the 2016 election went missing as former President Trump left office, according to new reports.

The binder contained U.S. and NATO-ally “raw intelligence” on Russia and Russian agents, CNN first reported. The binder was last spotted at the White House during the former president’s final days in office and reportedly hasn’t been seen since.

The “Crossfire Hurricane” binder has sparked concern about the possible spread of sensitive information, The New York Times reported. The binder’s name mirrors that of the FBI’s investigation into alleged connections between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia. 

The information in the binder, described as being 10 inches thick, was so sensitive that even lawmakers and congressional aides with top secret security clearances could only go over the material at the CIA headquarters in McLean, Va., CNN reported.

A source said the substance of the binder’s material isn’t seen as particularly sensitive, the Times reported, but that it contained details that intelligence agencies thought could reveal secret sources and methods. A redacted version is available on the FBI’s website.

Trump issued an order with the aim of declassifying the majority of the binder’s contents in the days before he left office, according to CNN.

A source close to Trump told the Times that the binder’s contents captured the former president’s attention. Trump aides worked on redactions for parts of the material in 2021 due to Trump’s plans to declassify and share parts of the content publicly. Copies were made of the redacted version, and one conservative writer allegedly received some of the binder’s material from Mark Meadows, then-White House chief of staff.

After the Department of Justice (DOJ) voiced worries about the material’s distribution, the copies were taken back, sources told the Times.

Meadows went to the DOJ shortly before President Biden’s inauguration to deliver a redacted copy of the binder for a final review, CNN reported. However, the department hasn’t released all the documents.

Trump suggested in 2021 that Meadows still had contents from the binder, the Times reported.

“I would let you look at them if you wanted,” Trump reportedly said in an interview at the time, according to the Times. “It’s a treasure trove.”

Meadows’s lawyer said he does not possess the binder, according to the Times.

“Mark never took any copy of that binder home at any time,” George J. Terwilliger III told the Times.

References to the binder or lost Russian intelligence were not in Trump’s indictment in the the Mar-a-Lago documents case from June, CNN reported.