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President Donald Trump disclosed highly classified information to Russia's foreign minister about a planned Islamic State operation, two U.S. officials said on Monday, plunging the White House into another controversy just months into Trump's short tenure in office.
The intelligence, shared at a meeting last week with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak, was supplied by a U.S. ally in the fight against the militant group, both officials with knowledge of the situation said.
The White House declared the allegations, first reported by the Washington Post, incorrect.
[...] One of the officials said the intelligence discussed by Trump in his meeting with Lavrov was classified "Top Secret" and held in a secure "compartment" to which only a handful of intelligence officials have access.
After Trump's disclosure of the information, which one of the officials described as spontaneous, officials immediately called the CIA and the National Security Agency, both of which have agreements with a number of allied intelligence services around the world, and informed them what had happened.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-idUSKCN18B2MX
Also at The Washington Post and The New York Times.
[Update.] According to Ars Technica, President Trump then proceeded to Tweet information about this meeting:
Statements from President Trump on Twitter and from White House National Security Advisor Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster did not directly contradict details initially reported by the Washington Post late on Monday. McMaster said that no sources or methods were exposed in the conversation. However, the unnamed officials cited in the Post report were concerned that Trump's citing of the exact location "in the Islamic State’s territory where the US intelligence partner detected the threat" could expose the source. Tuesday morning, Trump tweeted:
As President I wanted to share with Russia (at an openly scheduled W.H. meeting) which I have the absolute right to do, facts pertaining....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 16, 2017
...to terrorism and airline flight safety. Humanitarian reasons, plus I want Russia to greatly step up their fight against ISIS & terrorism.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 16, 2017
Trump also lashed out at the intelligence community for leaking about his actions:
I have been asking Director Comey & others, from the beginning of my administration, to find the LEAKERS in the intelligence community.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 16, 2017
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday May 17 2017, @07:26PM (2 children)
> It would be so much simpler to have a dear leader with absolute power.
"As long as he is MY guy! With absolute power, he could finally protect my freedoms and my agenda against those evil other guys!"
- Both halves of the US
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday May 17 2017, @09:10PM
The polar extremes are probably the enemy of us all.
We all basically want a lot of the same things.
We shouldn't have too much regulation, but nor should we have too little. I want a corporation to be able to make money and jobs, but I don't want them legally able to sneak into my house in the night and harvest my organs because "we can't regulate corporate behavior". That thinking got use Enron. Worldcom.
We must have taxes in order to have government services we all want. But how much should we reasonably tax, and where should government end?
But then we get into thorny issues like states trying to put creation into the science curriculum. Or whether someone who is going to get an abortion no matter what, should be able to get one that is safe and legal. Or whether gay people should be discriminated against. We're probably not going to get all people to come to some reasonable agreement, sadly.
Why is it that when I hold a stick, everyone begins to look like a pinata?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 18 2017, @12:09AM
You're reminding me of Tom and Ray Magliozzi who would speak of the third half of the show. [google.com]
In the last election, the numbers were very interesting. [heavy.com]
Eligible to vote - 231,556,622
Didn’t Vote - 96,421,324 (41.6 percent)
So, "None of the above" outdrew everybody on the ballot.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]