Meddling comments were kept from public
Donald Trump told two senior Russian officials during a 2017 Oval Office meeting that he was not concerned about Moscow’s interference in the US presidential election, because the US did the same in other countries – an assertion that prompted alarmed White House officials to limit access to the remarks to an unusually small number of people, according to three former officials with knowledge of the matter.
The comments, which have not been previously reported, were part of a now-infamous meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, during which Trump revealed highly classified information that exposed a source of intelligence about Islamic State.
A memorandum summarising the meeting was limited to all but a few officials with the highest security clearances, in an attempt to keep the president’s comments from being disclosed publicly, according to the former officials, who requested anonymity.
The White House’s classification of records about Trump’s communications with foreign officials is a central part of the impeachment inquiry launched this week by House Democrats.
At the time, the White House had recently begun limiting the records of Trump’s calls, after remarks he made to the leaders of Mexico and Australia appeared in news reports.
White House officials were particularly distressed by his election remarks, because it appeared that he was forgiving Russia for an attack that had been designed to help elect him, and seemed to invite Russia to interfere in other countries’ elections, the former officials said.
The previous day, Trump had fired FBI director James Comey amid the FBI’s investigation into whether the Trump campaign had coordinated with Russia.
Trump had publicly ridiculed the Russia investigation as politically motivated, and said he doubted that Moscow had intervened in the election. By the time he met with Lavrov and Kislyak, he had been briefed by the most senior US intelligence officials about the Russian operation.