Report: Trump shared secret info about IS with Russians,
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump revealed highly classified information about Islamic State extremists to Russian officials during a meeting last week, The Washington Post reported Monday, prompting strong condemnation from both Democrats and Republicans.
Three White House officials who were in the May 10 meeting strongly denounced the story, saying no intelligence sources and methods were discussed — but they were not viewed as denying that classified information was disclosed.
Citing current and former U.S. officials, the Post said Mr. Trump shared details about an IS terror threat related to the use of laptop computers on aircraft with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak.
Mr. Trump’s alleged disclosure does not appear to have been illegal — the president has the power to declassify almost anything. But sharing the information without the express permission of an ally who provided it — in this case, a Middle Eastern ally that closely guards its own secrets — would be a major breach of espionage etiquette and could jeopardize a crucial intelligence-sharing relationship.
The anonymous officials told the Post that the information Mr. Trump relayed during the Oval Office meeting had been provided by a U.S. partner through an intelligence-sharing arrangement. They said it was considered so sensitive that details have been withheld from allies and tightly restricted even within the U.S. government.
“I was in the room; it didn’t happen … as reported,” Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, Mr. Trump’s national security adviser, told reporters outside the White House late Monday.
“The president and the foreign minister reviewed a range of common threats to our two countries including threats to civil aviation,” Gen. McMaster said. “At no time, at no time were intelligence sources or methods discussed and the president did not disclose any military operations that were not already publicly known.”
He said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Dina Powell, deputy national security adviser for strategy, remember the meeting the same way. “Their on-therecord accounts should outweigh those of anonymous sources” in the news report, he said.
Mr. Tillerson said Mr. Trump discussed a range of subjects, including “common efforts and threats regarding counter-terrorism.” He said that during that exchange the nature of specific threats were discussed, but they did not discuss sources, methods or military operations.
Ms. Powell said: “This story is false. The president only discussed the common threats that both countries faced.”
The Post story — which was later confirmed by The New York Times and BuzzFeed News — does not claim that Mr. Trump revealed any specific information about how the intelligence was gathered.
Even before he was inaugurated, intelligence professionals worried about sharing classified information with Mr. Trump, who often shoots from the hip.
If true, the breach came a day after Mr. Trump fired former FBI Director James Comey, who was leading an investigation into Russian meddling in the presidential election. Mr. Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, was fired after he misled Vice President Mike Pence about conversations he had with Mr. Kisylak.
Although it’s unlikely that Mr. Trump has broken any law since the president has broad authority to declassify government secrets, the Post said the intelligence partner had not given the United States permission to share the material with Russian officials. By doing so, Mr. Trump would have jeopardized cooperation from an ally familiar with the inner workings of IS and make other allies, or even U.S. intelligence officials, wary about sharing future top secret details with the president.
After the meeting, White House officials took steps to contain the damage, placing calls to the CIA and the National Security Agency, the newspaper said.
The CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment Monday evening.