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."
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
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.
-
Antony Gormley's Time Horizon – a 'judgmental army' of 100 cast-iron men
The Week Recommends Sculptures are 'everymen questioning the privilege of their surroundings' at the Norfolk stately home
By Adrienne Wyper, The Week UK Published
-
'King's horses take free rein through London'
Today's Newspapers A roundup of the headlines from the US front pages
By The Week Staff Published
-
Is pop music now too reliant on gossip?
Talking Point Taylor Swift's new album has prompted a flurry of speculation over who she is referring to in her songs
By Richard Windsor, The Week UK Published
-
'Voters know Biden and Trump all too well'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Who will win the 2024 presidential election?
In Depth Election year is here. Who are pollsters and experts predicting to win the White House?
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
National Enquirer helped Trump in 2016, ex-boss says
Speed Read David Pecker says the tabloid published fabricated content to hurt Trump's rivals
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Sitting in judgment on Trump
Opinion Who'd want to be on this jury?
By Susan Caskie Published
-
Ukraine cheers House approval of military aid
Speed Read Following a lengthy struggle, the House has approved $95 billion in aid for Ukraine and Israel
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Poland, Germany nab alleged anti-Ukraine spies
Speed Read A man was arrested over a supposed Russian plot to kill Ukrainian President Zelenskyy
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Israel hits Iran with retaliatory airstrike
Speed Read The attack comes after Iran's drone and missile barrage last weekend
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Peter Murrell: Sturgeon's husband charged over SNP 'embezzlement' claims
Speed Read SNP expresses 'shock' as former chief executive rearrested in long-running investigation into claims of mishandled campaign funds
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published