An adviser to former President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign has been identified in a new report as one of the people described in a key episode from special counsel Jack Smith’s indictment over sensitive government documents.
Susie Wiles is the “PAC representative” who is described but not named in the 37-count indictment, according to ABC News, citing multiple sources.
The indictment says in August or September 2021, Mr. Trump was at his club in Bedminster, New Jersey, and showed the PAC representative a classified map to explain that a military operation was not going well. He told the other person, now identified in media reports as Ms. Wiles, not to “get too close.”
The indictment says there was no need for the representative to know about the operation — and did not have required security clearances.
The Washington Times reached out to the Trump campaign for comment on the report identifying the representative as Ms. Wiles.
Ms. Wiles is a key adviser to Mr. Trump who worked on his operations in Florida and at his Save America political action committee. She also helped Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a chief rival to Mr. Trump in the GOP 2024 presidential primary, with his campaigns for governor.
The 2021 incident described by Mr. Smith is one of two episodes in the indictment in which Mr. Trump allegedly waved around classified documents.
The other incident occurred in July 2021, when Mr. Trump allegedly held up military plans for an attack on Iran while meeting with persons who were working on a book about former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. Audio of that meeting was obtained by CNN this week.
Mr. Trump says his reference to papers was just empty talk and he didn’t have sensitive papers.
“I would say it’s bravado,” Mr. Trump told ABC News after the recording was released. “If you want to know the truth, it was bravado. I was talking about just holding up papers and talking about [it], but I have no documents. I didn’t have any documents.”
Federal prosecutors in Florida are handing over evidence to the Trump team as both sides submit motions and prepare for trial. A judge initially scheduled the trial for August but it will likely occur months later.
Mr. Trump says the indictment, which says he unlawfully stored classified documents at his Florida estate and obstructed efforts to return them to the National Archives, is a witch hunt designed to thwart his 2024 campaign.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.