Former President Trump allegedly shared classified information about US nuclear submarines with a billionaire Australian businessman who then went on to share the information with more than a dozen other people, according to sources who spoke to ABC News and the New York Times. Anthony Pratt, a member of Trump's Mar-a-Lago club, met with Trump at the Florida club in April 2021, months after Trump left office, and mentioned that he thought Australia should be purchasing subs from the US. Trump then allegedly disclosed the exact number of nuclear warheads the subs carry, and how close they're said to be able to get to a Russian sub without detection. The sources said the information revealed by Trump could have endangered the US nuclear fleet.
Pratt, who runs Pratt Industries, one of the largest cardboard and packaging companies in the world, then allegedly went on to discuss the sensitive information with some of his employees, several journalists, and more than a dozen foreign officials. Federal prosecutors working for special counsel Jack Smith interviewed Pratt after learning of the disclosures, and the sources say Pratt is among the more than 80 people they've identified as potential witnesses against Trump when he goes on trial for allegedly mishandling classified documents. Some commenters, however, like former Australian ambassador to the US Joe Hockey, say the disclosures aren't a big deal: "We have had Australians serving with Americans on US submarines for years, and we share the same technology and the same weapons as the US Navy," Hockey says. (More Donald Trump stories.)