A former FBI special agent has issued a stark warning to the US intelligence community as Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House for a second term.
In her X article, Asha Rangappa urged intelligence officials to act quickly to safeguard any sensitive information before she takes office.
“I hope the IC takes advantage of the coming months to protect its sources because our national security secrets are about to be sold to the highest bidder,” he wrote.
Rangappa, a frequent critic of Trump, has repeatedly expressed concern about the former president’s impact on national security.
A former FBI special agent has issued a stark warning to the US intelligence community as Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House for a second term.
Writing in X, Asha Rangappa urged intelligence officials to act quickly to safeguard any sensitive information before taking office.
He has suggested that Trump’s history of deceptive behavior and his ties to Russia point to possible influence, or ‘kompromat’, that foreign powers have over him.
It emerged last month that Trump has remained in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin since leaving office, holding more than a handful of phone calls with him, according to explosive allegations in Bob Woodward’s new book.
Woodward describes the extent of the contacts and attributes them to a Trump aide in his new book War, cnn reported.
There were “maybe as many as seven” after Trump left office in 2021, Woodward writes. And the timeline extends to after Putin’s bloody invasion of Ukraine.
The intervening period has seen brutal missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities and towns, and the resulting avalanche of sanctions from the United States and its allies against Russia, as well as against Putin and members of his circle.
Trump has repeatedly stated at his campaign events that Russia would never have invaded Ukraine if he had still been in office.
Last month it emerged that Trump has remained in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin since leaving office, holding more than a handful of phone calls with him.
Trump has publicly praised Russian President Vladimir Putin on multiple occasions, both during his 2016 presidential campaign and during his term.
During the height of the pandemic in 2020, Trump also sent Putin a secret stash of Abbott Covid testing machines “for his personal use,” Woodward reports.
It came at a time of gestures of solidarity as the pandemic spread, but Putin reportedly wanted to keep it a secret.
“Please don’t tell anyone you sent this to me,” Putin told Trump, according to Woodward. “I don’t care,” Trump told him. ‘Good.’
“I don’t want you to tell anyone because people will be angry with you, not me,” Putin told him. Washington Post reported.
Although there is no concrete evidence that Trump sold classified information during his first term, allegations did surface that he shared highly sensitive defense details with guests at his private clubs in Florida and New Jersey.
These incidents formed the basis of the federal charges brought against him by special prosecutor Jack Smith.
The charges were ultimately dismissed by Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon, who cited a unique legal interpretation advanced by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
There is no concrete evidence that Trump sold classified information during his first term, but allegations emerged that he shared highly sensitive defense details with guests at his private clubs.
Former FBI agent urges intelligence community to ‘protect’ its secrets before Trump takes office again
The judge ruled that Smith’s appointment as special prosecutor did not meet proper legal standards and he was not properly appointed to the position of special prosecutor.
Smith had planned to appeal the decision, but there are now suggestions that he will calm down and ultimately conclude the two pending cases against Trump, including the classified documents case and the election conspiracy investigation.
Such a move would be in line with a long-standing Justice Department policy that limits the filing of criminal charges against a sitting president.
The two other federal criminal cases against Donald Trump are likely to be closed before he reaches the White House.
Smith is in talks with the Justice Department to end the Jan. 6 and classified document prosecutions. NBC News reported on Wednesday.
It’s a huge blow for Smith, who ramped up the cases in the final months of the campaign and has spent nearly three years and more than $35 million in taxpayer funds trying to bring the 78-year-old to trial.
Trump still faces sentencing in the hush money trial in New York next month and the election interference case in Georgia led by District Attorney Fani Wills has been plagued by a host of problems.
