Feds duck furor over president’s sharing of intel with Russians

WASHINGTON — Canadian politicians had an upclose vantage point as another political storm was rolling into Washington. Just before reports broke that U.S. President Donald Trump had shared classified information with the Russian government, two federal cabinet ministers headed for dinner at the State Department.

Chrystia Freeland and Harjit Sajjan dined with their U.S. counterparts for foreign affairs and defence — Rex Tillerson and James Mattis. The day’s drama was not a major topic of dinner conversation, based on the readout provided by the U.S. government.

The Canadian government tiptoed Tuesday around the question of whether the news had done anything to rattle faith in exchanging intelligence with the U.S.

“We have a long-standing relationship that has proven to be very valuable over the long term,” Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said in Ottawa.

But there were some frayed nerves in Washington. Several Republicans expressed concern Tuesday about the drama-a-day White House — which in a single week fired the FBI director; told different stories about why; became the target of a congressional investigation that’s expanding into money-laundering; shared intelligence with Russia; and offered shifting explanations.

The administration initially discounted the details of reports in the Washington Post, New York Times, Buzzfeed and elsewhere that the president gave the Russians a detail about terrorist bomb-making that might help it identify U.S. sources in the Middle East.

But the president admitted the basic details on Twitter — and he said it was no big deal.

“As President I wanted to share with Russia … which I have the absolute right to do, facts pertaining to terrorism and airline flight safety,” he tweeted Tuesday. What’s most important, the president said, is that authorities “find the leakers in the intelligence community.”

Republican lawmaker Mike Gallagher, a former U.S. Marine who served in Iraq, asked to see the transcript of Trump’s conversation with the Russians. His colleague Barbara Comstock called the reports “highly troubling” and demanded classified briefings.

Several news reports said the original information came from Israeli intelligence. It’s unclear whether the U.S. informed the Israelis it might share the information with the Russians, who have different allies in the region — notably Iran.

Meanwhile, Trump and visiting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed Tuesday to repair a relationship battered by years of disputes over Syria’s civil war and its various fighting groups, even as they broached a new disagreement over U.S. plans to arm Kurdish fighters.

Delivering a statement alongside Erdogan, Trump said the U.S. would re-establish its military and economic partnership with Turkey.