Trump adviser who allegedly saw classified material works with pro-China lobbyists

30 June 2023

In his case against former President Donald Trump, special counsel Jack Smith's evidence, according to reports, includes 2021 interactions in which Trump allegedly showed classified documents to his allies. ABC News has identified Susie Wiles, an adviser for Trump's 2024 campaign, as someone he allegedly showed a classified map to.

According to the New York Post's Josh Christenson, Wiles co-chairs Mercury Public Affairs — a lobbying firm that, Christenson reports, has been "serving Chinese entities that potentially pose a national security threat." Wiles notes that Mercury "has taken millions of dollars in recent years from Chinese companies such as Yealink, Hikvision and Alibaba."

Christenson points out, however, that "a search of the Justice Department's registry of foreign agents indicated Wiles had not worked directly for those clients."

In his 37-count criminal case against Trump, Smith alleges that Trump endangered the United States' national security by storing classified government documents at Mar-a-Lago — documents that, according to Smith, should have remained in Washington, D.C. when Trump left office on January 20, 2021. Trump, however, has maintained that the documents he had at Mar-a-Lago were "declassified" and that he did nothing wrong.

A Republican operative, interviewed on condition of anonymity, told the New York Post, "Susie could put Trump away for years in just one minute of testimony to Jack Smith. She's got Trump by the balls, which means she can name her price for her loyalty and Trump can't say no."

CNN, on June 29, described Wiles as a "close associate of Chris Kise, who is on Trump's legal team and appeared in court earlier this month when Trump was indicted."

According to ABC News reporters Katherine Faulders, John Santucci, and Alexander Mallin, "The alleged exchange between Trump and Wiles is the second of two instances detailed by prosecutors in the indictment showing how Trump allegedly disclosed classified information in private meetings after leaving the White House. The first was a July 2021 audio recording, obtained by ABC News earlier this week, in which Trump is heard showing people what he describes as a 'secret' and 'highly confidential' document relating to Iran."

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