Trump Team: Washington Post Colluding With FBI Over Nuclear Secrets ‘Leaks’

Former U.S. President Donald Trump raises his fist while walking to a vehicle outside of Trump Tower in New York City on Aug. 10, 2022. Stringer/AFP via Getty Images

A spokesperson and a lawyer for former President Donald Trump reacted to an anonymously sourced Washington Post report that claimed a document describing a foreign government’s nuclear capabilities was discovered during the FBI raid on Trump’s home last month.

“The Washington Post continues to serve as the propaganda arm of the Biden administration, and instead of operating openly and honestly, they collude in never-ending leaks and lies at the expense of the integrity of the FBI and DOJ,” Taylor Budowich wrote on Twitter in reference to the Washington Post article.

The Epoch Times has contacted the DOJ and FBI for comment. Neither agency has issued a public comment on the Washington Post’s article, which was published Tuesday night and cited unidentified “people familiar with the matter.” The Post’s article did not elaborate on the nature of the documents and claimed that “many senior national security officials are kept in the dark about them.”

Throughout Trump’s presidency, media outlets such as the New York Times, CNN, NBC, and the Washington Post would often publish articles about his presidency while citing anonymous sources. Trump often derided those reports and outlets as “fake news.”

The former president has said that these outlets colluded with certain federal agents who sought to undermine his presidency and reelection campaign, namely allegations that he colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election.

It was later determined by former special counsel Robert Mueller that there was no evidence Trump colluded with Moscow. A subsequent investigation by the DOJ’s inspector general found in December 2019 that significant errors and omissions were made when the DOJ and FBI pushed to surveil former Trump aide Carter Page as part of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.

After the Aug. 8 raid, Trump and members of his team, including former national security aide Kash Patel, said the 45th president declassified a range of materials during his waning months in office.

Leaks

On Wednesday, the former president’s lawyer accused the Department of Justice (DOJ) of continuously leaking information about the Mar-a-Lago investigation to mainstream outlets.

“Unfortunately, even after the Court noted specifically in its Order that President Trump ‘faces an unquantifiable potential harm by way of improper disclosure of sensitive information to the public’ and asked counsel for the United States directly about leaks, those leaks continue with no respect for the process nor any regard for the real truth,” Chris Kise said in a statement to news outlets.

And Trump’s team argued last month in court filings that a special master—or a neutral, third party—needs to be appointed to review the materials that were taken from Trump’s Florida residence. Judge Aileen Cannon granted Trump’s request on Sept. 5 and argued that there is a risk of media leaks that could harm Trump.

Cannon also emphasized that the FBI’s raid targeting Mar-a-Lago was unprecedented in U.S. history.

“As a function of Plaintiff’s former position as President of the United States, the stigma associated with the subject seizure is in a league of its own,” the judge wrote Monday. “A future indictment, based to any degree on property that ought to be returned, would result in reputational harm of a decidedly different order of magnitude.”

After Cannon’s ruling, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice issued a statement saying the agency is now considering its options. The DOJ previously argued against appointing a special master and said it would impede its investigation into the former president.