Trump is said to have passed on the information in April 2021 during a dinner at his private estate at Mar-a-Lago. The name of the Australian billionaire was not disclosed in the indictment, but the media reported that Australian Anthony Pratt is also a member of Mar-a-Lago.
According to The New York Times, Trump did not show the man classified information, but he did talk about it. Specifically, he allegedly talked about how many nuclear warheads were on board the submarines and how close the submarines could get to Russian boats without being noticed.
According to ABC News, the billionaire subsequently passed on the information to at least 45 people, including employees of his company, journalists and politicians. During his interrogation by investigators, he indicated that he did not know whether Trump was serious or not. The investigators have asked him not to spread the information further.
Trump is accused of taking sensitive documents from the White House and storing them at his home. According to the indictment, these include classified documents containing information about the US nuclear capabilities and the country’s military contingency plans. The FBI had conducted a search of Mar-a-Lago in August 2022 and seized several documents there. Trump has pleaded not guilty. The trial, the first federal case against the president, is scheduled to begin on May 20, 2024.
