USA TODAY International Edition
Lawmakers demand answers about intel allegations
Report that Trump blurted classified info on ISIS to Russians incites uproar
Responding to reports that President Trump revealed “highly classified information” to the Russian foreign minister and ambassador at the White House last week, lawmakers called the alleged disclosures “inexcusable” and “deeply disturbing.”
The Washington Post, citing current and former U. S. officials, reported that Trump provided Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak classified intelligence that was so sensitive it had been withheld from allies — and under close hold within the U. S. government as well.
“To compromise a source is something that you just don’t do,” Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, R- Tenn., said. “That’s why we keep the information that we get from intelligence sources so close ... to prevent that from happening.”
As the White House pushed back on the story and criticized the use of anonymous sources — “the story that came out tonight, as reported, is false,” said Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, the president’s national security adviser — Democrats issued a flurry of statements denouncing Trump’s reported actions.
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D- N. Y., said Trump owed the intelligence community, Americans and Congress “a full explanation” of what happened. “If the report is
true, it is very disturbing,” he said in a statement. “Revealing classified information at this level is extremely dangerous and puts at risk the lives of Americans and those who gather intelligence for our country.”
Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that if the news was true, it was “a slap in the face to the intel community.”
“Risking sources & methods is inexcusable, particularly with the Russians,” tweeted Warner, whose panel is investigating an alleged hacking campaign by the Russians to influence the 2016 election.
The top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Eliot Engel of New York, said, “This certainly raises questions about whether the president recognizes the serious implications of disclosing such sensitive information to an adversary” and called for Congress to establish an independent commission to investigate the reports.
Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, insisted the administration and intelligence committee “must immediately and fully brief” his panel “on what, if anything, was shared with Russian officials and whether it could impact either our sensitive sources and methods or our intelligence sharing relationships.”
During the meeting, Trump described details of an Islamic State threat related to using laptop computers on aircraft, the Post reported. He allegedly revealed a city in the Islamic State’s territory where a U. S. partner detected the threat.
According to the Post, the president boasted of his knowledge of the looming threat. “I get great intel,” Trump said. “I have people brief me on great intel every day.”
Senior White House officials called the CIA and National Security Agency after the meeting to try to “contain the damage,” according to the Post.
The Trump administration denied the report Monday evening. “There is nothing that the president takes more seriously than the security of the American people,” McMaster said. “The president and the foreign minister reviewed a range of common threats to our two countries, including threats to civil aviation. At no time were intelligence sources or methods discussed. And the president did not disclose any military operations that were not already publicly known.
“Two other senior officials who were present, including the secretary of State, remember the meeting the same way and have said so. Their on- the- record accounts should outweigh those of anonymous sources. I was in the room — it didn’t happen.”
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said, “A broad range of subjects were discussed, among which were common efforts and threats regarding counterterrorism. During that exchange, the nature of specific threats were discussed, but they did not discuss sources, methods or military operations.”
The Post story did not explicitly say Trump disclosed sources and methods; it said Trump discussed information in a way in which sources and method could be deduced.
The Democratic National Committee said in a statement, “Russia no longer has to spy on us to get information — they just ask President Trump, and he spills the beans with highly classified information that jeopardizes our national security and hurts our relationships with allies.”
Sen. Bob Casey, D- Pa., brought up comments from House Speaker Paul Ryan last year during the controversy over Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of email. Ryan lamented the danger of individuals who are “extremely careless” with classified information.
Doug Andres, a spokesman for Ryan, R- Wis., said Monday, “We have no way to know what was said ( during the Trump meeting), but protecting our nation’s secrets is paramount. The speaker hopes for a full explanation of the facts from the administration.”
“At no time were intelligence sources or methods discussed. ... I was in the room — it didn’t happen.” Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, Trump’s national security adviser