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Donald Trump 'revealed highly classified information' to Russian minister and ambassador during White House visit Donald Trump 'revealed highly classified information' to Russian officials during White House visit
(35 minutes later)
President Trump reportedly revealed highly classified information to the Russian foreign minister and ambassador in a White House meeting last week. Donald Trump reportedly revealed highly classified information about Isis to the Russian foreign minister and ambassador in a White House meeting last week.
More follows..... The information revealed by the president, was said to have been provided to the US by an American ally through a highly sensitive intelligence sharing arrangement.
The Washington Post said that the partner had not provided permission for the information to be shared with Russia. After the meeting, senior White House officials took steps to contain the damage, placing calls to the CIA and National Security Agency.
After the Post revealed Mr Trump’s alleged actions, reaction was swift and harsh.
Democratic senator Chris Murphy called it “another in a very disturbing trend of careless behaviour by this administration”.
“If this story is true, it’s another brick in the wall of a really, really troubling connection between Trump and the Russian government,” he said.
The development was the latest incident to shake Washington, still stunned by the firing of FBI Director James Comey. The White House has been scrambling to project a sense of order, after Mr Trump himself created mayhem by contradicting his own officials explanation for the firing.
The report on Monday evening said one the most concerning aspects of the slip, was that Mr Trump revealed the city in the Islamic State’s territory where the US intelligence partner detected the threat.
Mr Trump’s national security advisor, HR McMaster, told the newspaper: “The president and the foreign minister reviewed common threats from terrorist organisations to include threats to aviation.”
He added: “At no time were any intelligence sources or methods discussed and no military operations were disclosed that were not already known publicly.”
During the election campaign, Mr Trump had often talked of the possibility of working with Russia to confront Isis. He frequently defended Russia’s military actions in Syria, disagreeing with many Western analysts to say Moscow’s role was crucial to stopping the spread of the Islamists.
The meeting in the Oval Office with Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, took place one day after the firing of Mr Comey, something Mr Lavrov had joked about.
The Post said during that meeting, Mr Trump went off script and began describing details about an Isis threat related to the use of laptop computers on aircraft.
It said that for anyone in government discussing such matters with an adversary would be illegal. As president, Mr Trump has authority to declassify government secrets, making it unlikely that his disclosures broke the law.
In his meeting with Lavrov, Mr Trump was said to have boasted about his inside knowledge of the looming threat. “I get great intel. I have people brief me on great intel every day,” Mr Trump reportedly said.
Mr Trump went on to discuss aspects of the threat that the United States only learned from a key US partner. He did not reveal the specific intelligence gathering method, but described how Isis was pursuing elements of a specific plot and how much harm such an attack could cause under varying circumstances.
The Post said during that meeting, Mr Trump went off script and began describing details about an Isis threat related to the use of laptop computers on aircraft.
It said that for anyone in government discussing such matters with an adversary would be illegal. As president, Mr Trump has authority to declassify government secrets, making it unlikely that his disclosures broke the law.
The Post said it was withholding most details of the plot. It quoted one former US intelligence counterterrorism official as saying: “Everyone knows this stream is very sensitive and the idea of sharing it at this level of granularity with the Russians is troubling.”
Senior Republican senator John McCain called the allegations “disturbing”, if true. “We certainly don't want any president to leak classified information but the president does have the right to do that,” he added.
Another senior Republican with large experience in foreign and intelligence affairs, Senator Lindsey Graham, said: “I have no idea if it’s true. If it is, it would be very troubling. I'm not going to comment any further.”