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Report: Trump had secret documents on Iran, China in Florida home
Documents seized from former president Donald Trump's Florida home in August included highly sensitive intelligence on Iran and China that risked exposure of US spying methods, the Washington Post reported Friday.
Among the documents retrieved by Justice Department investigators included one that described Iran's missile program, and another that "described highly sensitive intelligence work aimed at China," the Post said, citing people familiar with the case.
Investigators seized some 11,000 documents in the raid to recover what the government says should be in the US archives but that Trump illegally took with him when he left the White House in January 2021.
Among those were just over 100 classified documents, some of them classified as top secret and normally kept tightly under seal with only a few people permitted to access them.
However, at Mar-a-Lago they were kept in places that included Trump's personal office, with little security, according to the Justice Department.
The Justice Department justified the raid on grounds of national security, indicating that Trump was suspected of violating the Espionage Act, which forbids the retention and sharing of highly sensitive documents pertaining to national defense.
He was also suspected of obstruction, after his attorneys had told the department in June that there were no more government documents held at Mar-a-Lago.
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But Trump has not been charged. After Trump sued, that court appointed an independent "special master" to review the documents to see which ones could be covered by his claims of privilege over them.
Many of the documents, which mixed government records with personal legal and financial documents of Trump as well as press clippings and keepsakes, will be returned to the former president.
In a filing on Thursday to the special master, the Justice Department said that among the official government records there were only 15 documents on which privilege is disputed by the two sides.
Source: anews
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NATO Secretary-General Ex...
- November 7, 2024
Amid growing anxiety among several European countries participating in NATO over Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte stated he looks forward to sitting down with Trump.
Upon arriving to participate in the summit of the European Political Community, which includes around forty heads of state in Budapest, he said, "I look forward to sitting with the elected U.S. president and seeing how we will collectively ensure we meet challenges, including the threats from Russia and North Korea." He also noted that the strengthening of ties between Russia and North Korea poses a threat to the United States as well, according to reports from Agence France-Presse.
Before Trump's victory, Rutte expressed confidence that a united Washington would remain part of the defensive alliance, even if Trump became the 47th president of the United States. In an interview with German public broadcaster ZDF last Monday night, he stated that both Republicans and Democrats understand that NATO serves not only the security of Europe but also that of America. He added that both candidates are aware that the security of the United States is closely tied to NATO.
On Wednesday, NATO congratulated Trump on his victory but did not address the Ukrainian issue.
It is noteworthy that the relationship between the elected U.S. president and the defense alliance was not the best during his first term in the White House. Trump criticized NATO member states multiple times and even hinted at withdrawing from the alliance unless they increased their financial contributions.
Additionally, the issue of the Russian-Ukrainian war is one of the matters that complicate relations between the two sides, especially since Trump has repeatedly stated that he can end this ongoing conflict, which began in 2022, quickly. He implied that he had a peace plan between Kyiv and Moscow, while his vice president, JD Vance, revealed aspects of that plan, which stipulated Ukraine's commitment not to join NATO, thereby sending reassuring signals to the Russians.
Furthermore, many NATO member states in Europe fear that Trump might halt military aid to Ukraine after he previously criticized the U.S. for pouring funds into supporting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
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