Donald Trump showed a classified map to passengers on a 2022 flight and kept a file so secret only six people had access, a Democrat politician has claimed. The claims, drawn from a newly disclosed January 2023 Department of Justice memo, add fresh details to the now-abandoned investigation into Mr Trump’s retention of classified materials at Mar-a-Lago. The memo was cited by prosecutors as they prepared felony charges against the then-former president, which were later dropped after his 2024 election victory.

Representative Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi demanding answers on the allegations. The letter states: “prosecutors identified a classified map that we believe Mr Trump may have shown to individuals on board the plane.” It adds that the investigation indicated Susie Wiles – Mr Trump’s future White House chief of staff, then CEO of his super PAC – was aboard, and witnessed the episode.

The memo also revealed that the FBI determined Mr Trump retained classified documents “pertinent to certain business interests”, prosecutors wrote, suggesting a possible motive for keeping the materials. One record was described as so highly restricted that just six officials would normally have seen it. Jamie Raskin said: “the disclosures raise questions about whether Mr Trump endangered national security to advance family business concerns.”

The revelations come from documents the Trump administration’s Justice Department provided to Congress this month as part of an effort to discredit the earlier probe led by special counsel Jack Smith. Mr Raskin accused the department of a “cherry-picked” release that inadvertently included “damning evidence” about the president’s conduct.

He called on Ms Bondi to reveal the identities of other passengers, the country depicted on the map, and any link to Mr Trump’s business dealings, and suggested the disclosure may have breached a protective order in the case.

Mr Trump has long denied wrongdoing, insisting he was entitled to the documents and had declassified them—a claim made without evidence.

The White House rejected the letter as politically motivated. Spokesperson Abigail Jackson said: “It’s pathetic that Democrats with zero credibility like Jamie Raskin are still clinging to deranged Jack Smith and his lies in 2026.

“President Trump did nothing wrong, which is why he easily defeated the Biden DOJ’s unprecedented lawfare campaign against him and then won nearly 80 million votes in a landslide election victory.”

The Justice Department dismissed the memo’s claims as “salacious and untrue”, arguing Mr Smith’s team had been “desperate to prosecute Biden’s top political opponent”.

The classified documents case, once viewed as the most serious threat to Mr Trump’s second presidential bid, resulted in an indictment accusing him of hoarding top-secret records and obstructing efforts to recover them.

It included separate allegations of Mr Trump showing a classified military map at Bedminster in 2021 and boasting of keeping a Pentagon “plan of attack”.

The charges were abandoned after his November 2024 win, citing policy against indicting a sitting president. A report by Smith remains sealed on the orders of US District Judge Aileen Cannon.

Mr Raskin warned: “The evidence pointed to Mr Trump having endangered national security to further the interests of Trump family businesses.”

He urged an end to any “cover-up”. The Justice Department called his claims of a protective order violation “baseless”, saying no grand jury material was disclosed.