Material on foreign nation’s nuclear capabilities seized at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago
Some seized documents were so closely held, only the president, a Cabinet-level or near-Cabinet level official could authorize others to know.
Some of the seized documents detail top-secret U.S. operations so closely guarded that many senior national security officials are kept in the dark about them. Only the president, some members of his Cabinet or a near-Cabinet-level official could authorize other government officials to know details of these special-access programs, according to people familiar with the search, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive details of an ongoing investigation.
And this:
It was in this last batch of government secrets, the people familiar with the matter said, that the information about a foreign government’s nuclear-defense readiness was found. These people did not identify the foreign government in question, say where at Mar-a-Lago the document was found or offer additional details about one of the Justice Department’s most sensitive national security investigations.
And this:
Investigators grew alarmed, according to one person familiar with the search, as they began to review documents retrieved from the club’s storage closet, Trump’s residence and his office in August. The team soon came upon records that are extremely restricted, so much so that even some of the senior-most national security officials in the Biden administration weren’t authorized to review them. One government filing alluded to this information when it noted that counterintelligence FBI agents and prosecutors investigating the Mar-a-Lago documents were not authorized at first to review some of the material seized.
Click here for the gift article at the Wasington Post.
Open thread.
Albatrossity
Whatever you think 45 did, it’s always worse in reality
Martin
Warming up to the idea of Trump being a neighbor of Robert Hanssen at ADX Florence.
Is there any reason to possess such a document except to sell it to a foreign power?
Baud
Israel or Russia?
Elizabelle
@Martin: Mags Haberman, and others, are trying as hard as they can to convince you taking them is just a Trump personality quirk.
Poor dear. He hasn’t gotten over no longer being in the White House.
Talk about gaslighting. (Off to find the article from the FTF NY Times. It was that bad.)
Mr. Bemused Senior
Everything you need to know about espionage is in Tinker, Tailor.
Martin
@Baud: What would Saudi Arabia pay the most for?
So my guess would be Israel.
Spanky
@Baud: Oh, it’s Russia, and Vlad was very glad to get info on what we know.
Hanging or the chair, I’m OK with either one.
Ken
I think “for his memoirs” was floated recently, but got laughed down — for the idea that classified information could go into a memoir, not for the (equally risible) idea that TFG could write a book.
Poe Larity
@Baud: Not marketable enough. Probably Japan or South Korea.
Baud
@Martin:
@Spanky:
We’ll find out when we learn whether MBS or Putin will be appointed Special Master.
Lapassionara
@Ken: or have a memory.
SpaceUnit
The steady drip of damning facts being released in the name of transparency seems to me a very effective strategy. Trump wants this to play out in the court of public opinion and the DOJ is here for it.
geg6
This mother fucker should at least get what the Rosenbergs got.
prostratedragon
I really dislike being made to suppress fantasies of crushing people under slabs on a daily basis. It’s enervating.
Cacti
@Elizabelle: Reminds me of their other recent gem, saying not to read too much into the surge of women voter registrations, because it could be MAGA women rejoicing in their lack of rights, post-Dobbs.
raven
Mulvaney is on CNN and says TFG would only have the documents to protect himself from the corrupt FBI.
WaterGirl
If you don’t have a subscription to the Washington Post, can someone confirm that you are you able to read the article through the link?
trollhattan
USWNT signed the collective bargaining agreement tonight guaranteeing equal between the men’s and women’s national soccer teams.
‘Bout time, considering the women have 100% of the nation’s World Cup and Olympics medals. LFG!
Captain C
I wonder if this story coming out right now is at least in part pushback against that idiot Trumpist judge who thinks she can ignore the law.
Ken
Leaving us in prime “it would be irresponsible not to speculate” territory. I’ll guess:
mrmoshpotato
Jesus Fucking Himself!
I didn’t have “Stealing foreign power’s nuclear capability documents” on my Kremlin’s Orange Fascist Shitstain bingo card.
I again congratulate the stupid, shithead children.
WaterGirl
@trollhattan: Equal pay? Equal TV time? Equal everything?
Hoping it’s all three. In any case, it’s about time.
Captain C
@raven: “So then, Mick, how are top nuclear defense secrets supposed to do that? Are you suggesting blackmail and hostage-taking are reasonable for TFG to do, or is treason OK for all Republicans?”
mrmoshpotato
@Spanky: Hanging. We know how to hang Nazi trash.
dmsilev
So, the fact that this story is in the Post today is the intelligence community preemptively sending a message to the appeals court that “the lunatic judge who is trying to protect TFG is way the fuck out of line; stop this ASAP.”?
WaterGirl
I think we’re well into holy fucking fuck territory.
Baud
@Captain C:
I’m pretty sure the new CNN just nods its head in implicit understanding.
WaterGirl
@dmsilev: That is pretty much what I am thinking.
Splitting Image
@Baud:
I think it’s very likely Trump stole intelligence on Russia’s nukes, but it’s also likely that he already handed everything he had over to Putin.
Israel seems the likeliest guess to me. Info on their program would be the juiciest item on the auction list.
Old Dan and Little Ann
@WaterGirl: Confirmed.
The Thin Black Duke
I wouldn’t be surprised if Trump falls out of a window soon.
Scout211
But, but, but, isn’t the most important thing the risk of reputational harm to our poor, mistreated F-POTUS? Who will think of the real victim here, people?
dmsilev
@WaterGirl: No, we’re still in “holy fuck” territory. We go to “holy fucking fuck” once we learn who he sold the documents to.
mrmoshpotato
@prostratedragon:
I understand, but the amendment banning cruel and unusual punishment probably would come into play.
lowtechcyclist
@Spanky:
Neither of them lasts long enough.
I want him in Supermax for the rest of his life with no electronic contact with the outside world, and I want him to get such topnotch medical care while in prison that he lives to age 100.
gene108
@Baud:
Iran.
Saudi’s would appreciate some info on their regional rival.
Lapassionara
@WaterGirl: I did read the article. Thanks.
WaterGirl
@Old Dan and Little Ann: Thank you!
WaterGirl
@dmsilev: I stand corrected.
Elizabelle
Trying to make this a free article. From August 18; updated August 26.
MAR-A-LAGO MEMO
Another Trump Mystery: Why Did He Resist Returning the Government’s Documents?
As with so much else with the former president, there is not one easy answer as to why he refused and ignited a legal firestorm. But here are some possibilities.
[We are probably lucky that Trump does not smoke. May not have matches at the ready. Someone else already wondered at his clogging up the plumbing when the White House has so many fireplaces.]
[Aha. Maggs Haberman did broach the possibility of nefarious use. In her very last paragraphs. And: the next sentence in the article — about Macron — was the last. Reader, you figure it out! I think it’s entirely possible the last paragraphs were not in the original article. The reader commenters really got after Access Maggie for her gaslighting treatment of the situation.]
prostratedragon
@mrmoshpotato: Yeah, dammit. Must explain why that clause is there in the first place.
Timill
@mrmoshpotato: I wonder if this Supreme Court would consider crucifixion cruel and unusual…
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Martin: Maybe we’re just butting our heads against a wall when we try to see sense in having those docs in his retirement home. Trying to follow what he says breaks my brain. Maybe trying to make sense of what he does breaks it too.
Spanky
@The Thin Black Duke: Well I hope not. I want to see him slowly ground to dust at this point, whinging to the end.
trollhattan
@WaterGirl:
👍👍👍
They can put butts in seats and draw the TV audience. Because they’re the best on the planet.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@raven: He’s planning on nuking the FBI?
Scout211
@WaterGirl: Yes, I was able to read it. Thanks!
trollhattan
@The Thin Black Duke:
Let’s make sure that window is plus XXXX size.
Defenestration for the biggest. Or is that Yugest?
Calouste
@trollhattan: Actually, the US men’s team won bronze at the 1930 World Cup.
Kristine
@Mr. Bemused Senior: Ayuh
raven
@The Thin Black Duke: Fat fuck won’t fit through a window!
dexwood
@raven: Too bad Mulvaney has never been properly introduced to the persuasive attributes of a Louisville Slugger. His sniveling countenance might appear more in tune with things. Not advocating violence here, venting because so many weasels licking trump’s toes are still such despicable liars, ghouls, traitors, and fools.
dmsilev
@Timill: Cruel, yes, but not all that unusual…
…for the Roman Empire. I guess one could argue that enough of our legal heritage is derived from Roman law that someone like Alito would approve.
dmsilev
@raven: A sliding glass door is a window of sorts.
Ken
@raven: Auric Goldfinger did in that Bond movie. Just needed a little help.
catclub
Putin would tell him he has to return the file, so he didn’t do that.
Spanky
I see that Captain Bigfoot has read the news today. Oh boy.
Spanky
@dmsilev: Now see, I would argue that it is unusual today, but not cruel when judged against his crimes.
WaterGirl
@Spanky: No, I apparently pre-stomped Cole by putting this up as he was writing his. (which I hadn’t realized. I did look for a post before I put mine up.)
So go read Cole’s post, please.
Scout211
Rolling Stone Headline just now:
geg6
Iran’s nukes that he gave MBS? That makes sense to me. Which means it’s probably wrong because…well…Cheetolini.
gene108
@dmsilev:
I think the message is there’s no way in hell you, Judge Cannon, are going to find a Special Master with the security clearance needed to look at all the material, who will be acceptable to both parties.
Ken
@dmsilev: Now you have me wondering, if a state decided its means of execution would be some wild horror — say, Fu Manchu’s Six Gates of Joyful Wisdom — would that be allowed since it was now the usual punishment? Cruel, yes, but not cruel and unusual?
prostratedragon
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I pretty much don’t bother. Having to look on his actual deeds is bad enough.
catclub
@trollhattan:
I bet the Jan 6 committee is trying to figure out how to get the fact that nuclear secrets were in the documents he stole, and put it on TV. I know I am trying to.
Spanky
@Scout211:
It pleases me that that is the actual headline, and you didn’t edit it.
Ken
@WaterGirl: That’s all right, Anne Laurie just stomped both of you. :-)
WaterGirl
@Spanky: The link shows the title as:
Mar-a-Lago Search Focused on Classified Nuclear Docs: Report
gene108
@lowtechcyclist:
Put him in a Supermax, with a camera in his cell and people can pay to watch the camera’s feed for a duration. A few bucks to watch him suffer for a few minutes.
mrmoshpotato
@Spanky: He’s Bigfoot.
Elizabelle
I hope the FBI is searching all of Trump’s other properties. Although: he’s had time to destroy evidence, since the first warrant was executed.
prostratedragon
@Ken: I know this news put me in a stomping mood.
Captain C
@lowtechcyclist: I would settle for a nice long stint in the Scrimshaw Suit from the Revelation Space series.
Spoiler coming:
For those who haven’t read Alastair Reynolds’ works, it’s basically a human-sized sensory deprivation suit in which a psychotic starship owner locks up her enemies for years at a time, keeping them alive with zero stimulation.
prostratedragon
@Elizabelle: They might already have. Consider that we know of this only because of TFG himself. How many district court judges did he appoint in NY and NJ?
lgerard
I’m thinking that the nuclear material is about North Korea. I think he loves Kim more then Putin. Kim has better parades and more obsequious toadies.
Captain C
What are the chances if, say Jared sold these nuclear secrets to the enemy of whoever they were about, that he commits a Russian-style suicide, like putting two rounds in the back of his own head before falling from a balcony and landing 20 or 30 feet outwards from the building? This sort of thing gets the people involved killed if they are indiscreet enough to get caught.
ian
@mrmoshpotato:
And that is why you will not win the prize, while MBS gets to see Israel or Iran’s dirty nuclear laundry.
Next time, buy the 2 billion dollar bingo card.
VOR
This would explain some of the classification marks indicating both human sources and satellite imagery. Of course the Intelligence community would be carefully monitoring another countries nuclear program.
But think of another possibility: information on a clandestine program at a country not currently a known nuclear power. The AQ Khan network talked to a lot of countries.
mrmoshpotato
@ian: I’m fine with never seeing anyone’s nuclear secrets.
Chris Johnson
@Baud: Yes. (or more like, I think Donald is 100% Russia Russia Russia, but others in his family like the odious Jared are clearly really interested in selling stuff to the Saudis et al.) It’s Donald who is entirely owned by Putin. Some of the others are fool enough to think they can do side deals.
Citizen Alan
@Ken: I’d never actually read any Fu Manchu novels. But I can’t help wondering whether George Orwell had read that passage prior to writing 1984.
Sister Golden Bear
@Timill:
Not if it involved a women or other pregnant person who had an abortion.
Geminid
Iran doesn’t have nuclear weapons, at least not yet. Russia, China, France, the UK, Pakistan, India, Israel and North Korea have them. A US report on any one of these would be worth a lot of money to multiple countries including the nation reported on. Although a report on North Korea’s program might not fetch so high a price.
This leak was something of a power play. I can only guess the level at which it was authorized, but I think that whoever authorized it did the right thing.