Former UK spy says in new book Trump ‘apparently unauthorizedly’ took secrets with him

Donald Trump took “British naval secrets” to Mar-a-Lago after he left the White House, the former UK spy Christopher Steele says in a new book.

“I was reliably informed by impeccable sources that among the classified documents which Trump, apparently unauthorizedly, took with him to Mar-a-Lago at the end of his presidency were British naval secrets, some of the most sensitive ones in our governmental system,” Steele writes.

“It remains unclear to me, at least, why Trump would have wanted to retain such documents and what eventually happened to them.”

In a statement sent to the Guardian after this story was published on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the British Ministry of Defence said of Steele’s comments about naval secrets taken to Mar-a-Lago: “These claims are untrue.”

  • NOT_RICK@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2015·
    2 months ago

    Isn’t this the Steele Dossier guy? I thought he was discredited, although I admit I don’t know as much about that whole situation as I probably should.

    • IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.worldEnglish
      571·
      2 months ago

      The dossier was raw intel compiled as opposition research that was leaked. It was never intended to be 100% correct, instead it was supposed to be a starting point for further research.

      After the leak it was mischaracterized as a finished product and so inaccuracies were used to smear it.

      • themeatbridge@lemmy.worldEnglish
        241·
        2 months ago

        Worth mentioning that anyone aware enough to understand why smearing the Steele Dossier was important was also aware of everything you said. In other words, anyone repeating the lie knew they were lying. That’s not always the case.

    • czech@lemm.eeEnglish
      541·
      2 months ago

      No it was the opposite. Information laid out in his dossier continues to prove true over time as more details are released to the public. Not sure that anything has been shown to be false.

      Most criticism you find is heavy on colorful language like “'fake news” and “common sense” but lacks any disproving evidence.

      • NOT_RICK@lemmy.worldEnglish
        91·
        2 months ago

        I thought the pee tape had been debunked but looking over Wikipedia I see that’s not the case and I’m misremembering.

      • Billiam@lemmy.worldEnglish
        16·
        2 months ago

        Not everything has been proven to be true, but nothing has been proven to be false.

  • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.worldEnglish
    8·
    2 months ago

    I dunno… Supposedly British naval tradition is “monstrous! Nothing but rum, sodomy, prayer, and the lash!”* and Trump is a teetotaler who would never pray to anything but a flattering AI rendering of himself…

    *to use the longer version of the fake Churchill quote

  • 9point6@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1051·
    2 months ago

    Is it unclear?

    The Donald Trump that has a huge debt to Russia?

    The Russia that might be interested in sensitive information about the royal navy?

    The royal navy that provides the most immediate nuclear deterrent to Russia?

  • werefreeatlast@lemmy.worldEnglish
    8·
    2 months ago

    As a guy who loves a good story, maybe add Trumpet to the no fly list to or from UK? In fact I would put him on the interpol arrest list. That would let him feel consequences.

  • Optional@lemmy.worldEnglish
    27·
    2 months ago

    Is he even trying with the grease makeup anymore? It looks like he put it on while skateboarding off a cliff.

    • localhost443@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      7·
      2 months ago

      How long could you bare to be in the smell he reportedly emits. The amount of time the staffer spent putting that on was the same as how long they could hold their breath.

  • jagged_circle@feddit.nlEnglish
    51·
    2 months ago

    If you tell your secrets to the big dummie in the room, you should expect it to no longer be a secret

    • cosmicrookie@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      2 months ago

      The thing is, Trump is not USA. Alliances are made with the USA, long before Trump. He abused his power.

      There was no way of knowing that USA would vote for a president like him.

      Unless you mean that USA is the dummy

  • Mouselemming@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    56·
    2 months ago

    So, we trick the Don into visiting the UK and then y’all arrest him under the Official Secrets Act? Do you think you could maybe throw him in the Tower of London? Quick, while he’s still just a citizen so it doesn’t count as an International Incident?

    (Sorry, I just get so fed up with the spinelessness of our legal system with regard to this traitor.)