Former US president Donald Trump shared classified information about nuclear submarines with an Australian businessman shortly after he left office, in a meeting at his Florida private members club Mar-a-Lago, US media said.
The New York Times, citing unnamed sources, identified the businessman as billionaire Anthony Pratt, who heads one of the world's largest packaging companies.
ABC News, which first revealed the story, said Mr Pratt later shared sensitive details about the US submarines with "scores of others, including more than a dozen foreign officials, several of his own employees, and a handful of journalists".
Sources told the Times that Mr Trump's disclosures "potentially endangered the US nuclear fleet".
Federal prosecutors already investigating Mr Trump for holding classified material at Mar-a-Lago after he left office, interviewed Mr Pratt twice about the incident, the reports said.
Mr Pratt may now be called by prosecutors to testify against Mr Trump in his classified documents trial, which is due to start next May in Florida.
The billionaire met Mr Trump at his Palm Beach club in April 2021, and told the ex-president he thought Australia should start buying its submarines from the US, ABC reported.
In response, Mr Trump allegedly told the businessman the exact number of nuclear warheads US submarines routinely carry, and precisely how close they can get to Russian submarines without being detected, the news outlet said.
Aside from the classified documents case, Mr Trump faces three other indictments: one federal and one in Georgia over his efforts to overturn his election loss and stay in power, and one in New York stemming from election-eve hush money payments in 2016 to a porn star.
Mr Trump is currently on trial in New York on charges of wildly and fraudulently inflating the value of his assets so as to get better terms from banks and insurance companies.
Trump offers to take up House speaker post: US media
Meanwhile, Mr Trump has offered to temporarily take up the role of speaker of the House of Representatives, US media has reported.
Republican Kevin McCarthy was axed this week as speaker in a brutal, historic rebellion by far-right members of his own party who accused him of a string of broken promises and were furious at his cooperation with Democrats.
"I have been asked to speak as a unifier because I have so many friends in Congress," Mr Trump told Fox News.
"If they don't get the vote, they have asked me if I would consider taking the speakership until they get somebody longer-term, because I am running for president."
But former Republican congresswoman Barbara Comstock told CNN that Mr Trump would not be eligible for the role because he has been charged with criminal offences.
"Unfortunately he doesn't know the House rules, which say if you're indicted you cannot be in House leadership," Ms Comstock said.
Trump files to dismiss lawsuit against his ex-lawyer
Mr Trump has also filed a notice to voluntarily dismiss his $500m (€474m) lawsuit against his ex-lawyer Michael Cohen, a court filing showed.
The former president had sued Mr Cohen after his onetime loyal "fixer" testified before a Manhattan grand jury that indicted Mr Trump.
"Plaintiff, President Donald J Trump, by and through undersigned counsel, hereby gives notice that ... he is voluntarily dismissing this action without prejudice," Mr Trump's legal team said in a court filing made in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Mr Trump was scheduled to be deposed by Mr Cohen on Monday.
from his onetime loyal 'fixer' after Mr Cohen testified against him
Mr Cohen had asked the court in May to throw out the lawsuit against him, calling it an "abusive act of pure retaliation and witness intimidation".
He reiterated yesterday the lawsuit was "nothing more than a retaliatory intimidation tactic".
Mr Trump sued Mr Cohen on 12 April, eight days after pleading not guilty to 34 criminal charges from the Manhattan district attorney's office over a $130,000 (€123,266) hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election that Mr Trump won.
That marked the first of Mr Trump's four indictments.
