During his tenure, he shared military intelligence with Australian millionaire Anthony Pratt.
ABC News reported on the 5th (local time) that former U.S. President Donald Trump was found to have discussed sensitive information about nuclear submarines with an acquaintance at his Mar-a-Lago villa while he was in office.
ABC, citing sources, said the acquaintance was Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt. Pratt was a person whom Trump maintained a close relationship with during his time in office. When the Pratt-owned company’s plant opened in Ohio, then-President Trump attended the ceremony and encouraged his employees. He is said to have been investigated by a special prosecutor in connection with the leak of national records after former President Trump left office.
At the time, Pratt suggested to Trump that Australia needed to purchase American submarines, and Trump shared sensitive information such as how many nuclear warheads America’s nuclear submarines carry and how close they can be to Russian submarines without detection. He told investigators that he had done so, the source said.
The source said Pratt shared the nuclear submarine information with dozens of foreign officials, his own staff and a few reporters at a meeting in April 2021 after receiving the information from former President Trump.
Previously, CNN reported on an audio recording of former President Trump admitting to having classified information from the Department of Defense containing a potential attack plan against Iran at a meeting at the Bedminster Golf Club in New Jersey in July 2021.
Former President Trump is accused of deliberately retaining national defense information and conspiring to obstruct justice in connection with the leak of national secrets. Leaking classified information is one of four cases for which former President Trump was criminally indicted.
Former President Trump, who is leading among Republican presidential candidates in various opinion polls ahead of his re-election challenge next year, requested that the trial in the national secrets leak case be postponed until after the 2024 U.S. presidential election, but this was not accepted.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.