While a Binder of Classified Documents Disappeared, So Did Media Coverage of It
While the media doesn’t seem to care anymore, we definitely should.
Back in December, there was some media buzz over a binder containing sensitive information about Russian interference in the 2016 election that had gone missing. The last person to have it was none other than Donald Trump.
Remember that?
It was two months ago.
No sooner did the story enter the mediasphere, though, than it vanished like the binder itself.
But now the investigation into President Biden’s retention of classified documents has concluded, let’s also repeat that a binder containing sensitive information about Russian interference in the 2016 election has gone gone missing. It has not been recovered. The last person to have it was Donald Trump.
While the media doesn’t seem to care anymore, we definitely should.
As the New York Times reported at the time, the “Crossfire Hurricane” binder contained “a hodgepodge of materials related to the origins and early stages of the Russia investigation that were collected by Trump administration officials,” and could be used to “reveal secret sources and methods.”
CNN reported those contents were so classified they were housed at CIA headquarters and its analysis was locked in a safe.
According to a court filing, journalist John Solomon claims he went to the White House in the final days of the Trump presidency to review some contents of the 2,700 page- ten-inch thick binder and plan with then-Chief of Staff Mark Meadows how to release them. They were relinquished “in a paper bag,” and Solomon intended to scan them and publish them on his website.
But that night, the White House asked for them back.
As reported:
The binder was last seen at the White House during Trump’s final days in office. The former president had ordered it brought there so he could declassify a host of documents related to the FBI’s Russia investigation. Under the care of then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, the binder was scoured by Republican aides working to redact the most sensitive information so it could be declassified and released publicly.
CNN explained that in the last hours of the Trump administration, “multiple copies” of the binder were made “with plans to distribute them … to Republicans in Congress and right-wing journalists”.
The Times piece explained:
Among other murky details, it is not known how many copies were made at the White House or how the government knows one set is missing.
Just before President Biden’s inauguration, Meadows supposedly delivered a redacted copy back to the Justice Department. Those un-redacted files, however, are still missing. Their disappearance is so concerning, the Senate intelligence committee was briefed.
None of this is surprising considering that Trump was reportedly “obsessed” with the Russia investigation while in office and sought to declassify what he could about it.
The question now is, what is this not a bigger story?
A binder of classified documents about possible foreign influence in our election, and the media has simply dropped it.
It has no problem, however, reporting on Biden’s age and memory, as if those are the real issues facing voters.
They want us to ignore the fact that Donald Trump is running on nothing but revenge, lies, and fascist threats of ending democracy.
They want us to ignore the fact the upcoming election voters are going to be faced with the choice of democracy or dictatorship.
It’s almost like they want him back…