Trump's Mar-a-Lago files included 1 on French President Macron. He'd love to know what's in it, too.
"Ever since the FBI came out of Mar-a-Lago last month with box after box of documents, some of them highly sensitive and classified, questions have wafted over the criminal investigation," Andrea Bernstein writes at ProPublica: "Why did former President Donald Trump sneak off with the stash to begin with? Why did he keep it when he was asked to return it? And what, if anything, did he plan to do with it?"
Chief among the people interested in those answers is French President Emanuel Macron. One of the documents found in Trump's hoard, according to a terse inventory from the FBI, was listed as "1A — Info re: President of France."
CNN's Jake Tapper asked Macron on Thursday if he knows what's in those documents, and he shook his head. "I would not say it's too pleasant to, I mean, this type of information," Macron said. "I try to be less paranoiac each day, so, I mean, I'm cool, I'm here — and I would be delighted to have more information."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
When he was president, "Trump devoured intelligence briefings about his foreign counterparts," The New York Times reports. He was eager "to get leverage over allies he took a personal dislike to," like Macron, and "fascinated by what the CIA had learned about his international counterparts' supposed extramarital affairs — not because he was going to confront them with the information, former officials said, but rather because he found it titillating."
"Specifically, Trump has bragged to some of his closest associates — both during and after his time in the White House — that he knew illicit details about [Macron's] love life," Rolling Stone reports, citing two people with knowledge of the matter. "And the former president even claimed that he learned about some of this dirt through 'intelligence' he had seen or been briefed on," though he was "light on details and specifics." The "mere revelation" of the document found at Mar-a-Lago, Rolling Stone adds, "triggered a trans-Atlantic freakout."
"I've covered Trump and his business for decades," ProPublica's Bernstein writes, and "people around him have told me over and over again: Trump knows the value of hoarding sensitive, secret information and wielding it regularly and precisely for his own ends." And "if people's gambling and hotel habits can be valuable," she notes, with examples, "top secret intelligence has the potential to be even more so."
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Shoot to Kill: Terror on the Tube – a 'raw' and 'riveting' docuseries
The Week Recommends Channel 4's 'gripping' two-part show explores the Metropolitan police killing of an innocent man in the aftermath of 7/7
By Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK Published
-
'Salute to those who served'
Today's Newspapers A roundup of the headlines from the US front pages
By The Week Staff Published
-
Europe's all-inclusive holiday trend
The Week Recommends Big US chains are capitalising on the 'recent surge' in package breaks to bring upscale resorts to Europe
By Tess Foley-Cox Published
-
Haiti council fires prime minister, boosting chaos
Speed Read Prime Minister Garry Conille was replaced with Alix Didier Fils-Aimé
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump tells next Senate GOP leader to skip confirmations
Speed Read The president-elect said the next Senate majority leader must allow him to make recess appointments
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump victorious: 'a political comeback for the ages'
In Depth The president-elect will be able to wield a 'powerful mandate'
By The Week UK Published
-
Where does Elon Musk go from here?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION After gambling big on Donald Trump's reelection bid, the world's wealthiest man is poised to become even more powerful — and controversial — than ever
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Usha Vance: a political spouse with a 'conspicuous resume'
In the Spotlight The new second lady plays a behind-the-scenes role
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
Fed cuts rates, chair says he won't quit if Trump asks
Speed Read Jerome Powell was noncommittal on future rate cuts that were expected before Trump won the election
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
'The problem with deliverism is that it presumes voters will notice'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Melania Trump: the second coming of the first lady
The Explainer Melania was absent from Washington for large chunks of her husband's first reign
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published