Donald Trump accused of revealing classified information to Russians during White House meeting
President is said to have shared details about an ISIS laptop bomb terror plot
PRESIDENT Donald Trump was last night accused of revealing classified information to the Russians in a meeting last week.
He was said to have shared details about an ISIS laptop bomb terror plot.
They were allegedly shared with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and ambassador Sergey Kislyak at the White House.
Trump’s info had been provided by a US partner through an intelligence-sharing arrangement considered so sensitive that details have been withheld from allies.
The intelligence had even been tightly restricted within the American government, officials claimed.
The partner had not given the US permission to share the material with Russia.
Officials are worried that Trump’s decision to do so risks co-operation from an ally that has access to the inner workings of terror group ISIS.
After Trump’s meeting, White House officials tried to contain the damage with calls to the CIA and National Security Agency.
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Sources described it as “code-word information” and said Trump had “revealed more information to the Russian ambassador than we have shared with our own allies”.
Trump’s national security advisor H.R. McMaster, who was at the meeting, said that the story "as reported" was false and that “no military operations were disclosed that were not already known publicly” but did not deny classified intelligence had been shared.
The President has legal authority to disclose otherwise classified information as he sees fit, but experts have suggested such sharing of information gathered by allies could jeopardise intelligence-sharing relationships.
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