‘Disturbing’ and ‘dangerous’

Udall, Heinrich respond to Trump controversy

WASHINGTON — New Mexico Sens. Martin Heinrich and Tom Udall called President Donald Trump “disturbing” and “dangerous,” respectively, in the wake of reports that the president shared classified information with Russian officials last week, while Rep. Steve Pearce, the delegation’s lone Republican, took a wait-and-see approach to the controversy.

“The congressman believes, bottom line, all individuals with any level of a security clearance should be cautious when discussing matters of national security,” Pearce’s spokewoman told the Journal on Tuesday. “Rep. Pearce was not in the room at the time of the meeting, but expects the administration to present all of the facts to the public.”

The White House late Monday called the Washington Post report about Trump sharing classified information with the Russians in the Oval Office “false,” but the president on Tuesday tweeted that he did share intelligence information.

In a speech on the Senate floor Tuesday, Udall, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called the episode “stunning” and characterized it as a major crisis for the Trump administration.

“Congress needs to find out exactly what happened on a bipartisan basis,” Udall said. “But we can tell already that President Trump’s behavior in this incident is very dangerous — dangerous to our national security institutions; dangerous to the men and women overseas who are serving their country and risking their lives.

“Assuming it’s true, the president has endangered our relationship with the partner who gave our security agencies this information,” Udall added.

Heinrich, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, took to Twitter on Monday night with a series of tweets — or a “tweet storm” — chastising the president for a number of national security controversies since he took office. Heinrich launched the tweet tirade by characterizing Trump’s actions as a “disturbing pattern of recklessness.”

“Any one of these missteps would have resulted in punishments ranging from disciplinary action to jail time for any other citizen,” Heinrich tweeted Tuesday morning as an explanation point on his previous tweets. “But for President Trump, it’s just another day in the White House. This cannot be the new normal.”