U.S. Risks Losing Critical Foreign Intel If Trump’s Trial Quashed: Analysts

American allies could stop sharing sensitive intelligence with the United States if Donald Trump returns to the White House and his criminal classified documents case is abandoned, according to a former U.S. attorney.

The claim was made by Barbara McQuade, whom President Obama appointed as U.S. attorney for the eastern district of Michigan, during an appearance on the #SistersInLaw podcast, which she cohosts.

In 2023, Trump pled not guilty to 40 federal charges related to claims he illegally held on to classified documents after leaving the White House in January 2021, then obstructed efforts to return them to the relevant authorities. The case was overseen by Special Counsel Jack Smith, who has the same role in Trump’s federal election interference case.

Trump has strongly denied any wrongdoing in the classified documents case, which he insists is politically motivated. Newsweek contacted his 2024 presidential campaign for comment on Saturday by email outside of regular office hours.

In July, Florida District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the case claiming Smith’s appointment as special counsel was unconstitutional, though it was widely expected to get refiled. However, according to The New York Times, Smith, whom Trump vowed during the presidential election campaign to fire immediately, intends to resign before the Republican takes office.

Speaking on the podcast, McQuade said that “much of the information” in the classified documents Trump held onto had come from foreign governments. She added: “If they think Trump is just going to take all of the secrets they share with us and store it in some bathroom in Mar-a-Lago [Trump’s Florida resort], they are not going to share with us anymore, and that sharing is critically important.”

McQuade continued: “We’re not going to get the benefit from that information shared with us by our allies in the future if they don’t think Donald Trump is going to be careful with them.

“And if you were Great Britain or Australia or Canada or New Zealand, and you know that Donald Trump is back in office, do you think they’re going to share their information with us going forward? I don’t think so. I think they will be very reluctant. I think it’s important ultimately that Donald Trump be held accountable in some way.”

Joyce Vance, the former U.S. attorney for the northern district of Alabama who also cohosts the podcast, said that the case and Trump’s second election success could impact cooperation with foreign intelligence services.

Vance said: “The national intelligence communities in other countries that partner with us, they know precisely what happened, behind the curtain, they know what’s going on, they know what they’re walking into in a second Trump administration.”

Kimberly Atkins Stohr, a senior opinion writer for The Boston Globe, noted an ex-National Guard soldier was sentenced this month to 15 years in prison for leaking classified papers online.

Speaking on the podcast, she said: “I’m thinking about the former National Guardsman from Massachusetts, Jack Teixeira, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison for mishandling classified documents. We have someone else, different case, different facts, but who also mishandled classified documents, and he’s going to be in charge of all of them. I think that’s what the biggest impact—that’s what the legacy of this.”