Fox News anchor Eric Shawn floated the possibility that former President Donald Trump may have tried to “sell” classified documents to Russia or Saudi Arabia.
The FBI executed a search warrant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort residence on Monday in search of top secret and sensitive compartmentalized information, as well as other classified documents. The Washington Post reported Thursday that information regarding nuclear weapons was believed to be among the documents sought by federal agents, and a Russian-state television host said officials in Moscow have already studied the records. Trump described the report regarding nuclear weapons documents as a “hoax.”
In a Sunday Fox News broadcast, Shawn interviewed former intelligence officer and Russian expert Rebekah Koffler. At the start of the segment, the Fox News anchor raised questions about what Trump may have done with the classified materials.
Screenshot/Fox News
Shawn, citing reports, said that intelligence officials reportedly feared “either the material was being mishandled or even possibly illegally transferred…to others.”
“And more questions are being raised this morning. Did former President Trump try to sell [or] share the highly classified material to the Russians or to the Saudis, or others? Or were the documents innocently mishandled and stored because he thought he had a legal right to have them?” the Fox News anchor asked.
Koffler weighed in with her perspective, saying that Trump’s Florida home as a storage for such documents presents a “counterintelligence nightmare.”
“The real question, Eric, is what Russian President Putin has already done?” Koffler said. “The truth is the United States is the top target for KGB operative Putin and his spy services.” She added that that Mar-a-Lago “is a counterintelligence nightmare, meaning that spies from all over the world—Russia, China and beyond—are always on the hunt to lay their hands on top secret information, especially something that is related to nuclear warfare doctrine.”
“The fact that those boxes were not secure is a really grave concern,” she said.
Russia Claims to Have Seen the Documents
Russian media personalities have defended Trump and also said that the classified documents were reviewed by Moscow officials. Last week, during the Russian TV news program 60 Minutes, military expert Igor Korotchenko echoed Trump’s assessment of the FBI raid, calling it a “witch hunt.” Korotchenko said that “as the most popular politician in the United States” Trump was “chosen as such a witch.”
“They won’t just be vilifying him, they will be strangling him. These raids, involving dozens of FBI officers and police dogs…This is a symbol of inordinate despotism,” the Russian military expert added.
Over the weekend during a segment on a state-owned Russia-1 television channel, a host discussed the raid and said Russians had access to the documents seized from Mar-a-Lago.
“Turns out that the investigation against Trump has to do with the disappearance of secret documents from the White House, related to the development of nuclear weapons by the U.S.,” host Evgeny Popov said. “The FBI isn’t saying what kinds of weapons, or what they found in Trump’s estate. Obviously, if there were any important documents, they’ve been studying them in Moscow for a while.”
Trump Defends Himself
Trump has rejected reporting that there was information about nuclear weapons held at his Florida residence.
“Nuclear weapons issue is a Hoax, just like Russia, Russia, Russia was a Hoax, two Impeachments were a Hoax, the Mueller investigation was a Hoax, and much more. Same sleazy people involved,” the former president wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform early Friday morning.
The former president has described the Justice Department probe and the FBI search as a “scam.”
“Like all of the other Hoaxes and Scams that they’ve used to try and silence the voice of a vast majority of the American People, I have TRUTH on my side, and when you have TRUTH, you will ultimately be victorious!” he wrote Saturday on Truth Social.
Newsweek reached out to Trump’s press office for comment.
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