Key points from CNN’s report on a missing binder full of intelligence on Russia

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During then-President Donald Trump’s final days in office, a 10-inch-thick binder of raw Russian intelligence transported from the CIA went missing after it was last seen at the White House, CNN reported Friday. The investigation offered disturbing new details about the final frantic days of Trump’s term.

These revelations about what Trump tried to release publicly just before leaving the White House are yet another example of his ongoing effort to undercut the intelligence community on the issue of Russia. They are also a possible window into what he may view as unfinished business if he wins a second term as president next year.

CNN’s Jeremy Herb, Katie Bo Lillis, Natasha Bertrand, Evan Perez and Zachary Cohen have a methodical and in-depth report that also includes interactive features to explain what we know about how the binder got from the “safe within a safe” where it was kept at the CIA to the White House, where much of its contents were declassified by Trump.

The authors also explore what may have happened to the version of the binder that went missing. It does not appear to have been found, and intelligence officials briefed Senate Intelligence Committee leaders last year about ongoing efforts to retrieve it.

Read the full report here.

Some key passages from CNN’s report are below.

The binder contained raw intelligence the US and its NATO allies collected on Russians and Russian agents, including sources and methods that informed the US government’s assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to help Trump win the 2016 election, sources tell CNN.

The intelligence was so sensitive that lawmakers and congressional aides with top secret security clearances were able to…