Trump shared highly classified intelligence about Islamic State with Russians, reports say

May 15, 2017 6:50 PM PT

Reporting from Washington — The White House lurched into a new crisis Monday over reports that President Trump had shared highly classified intelligence last week with visiting Russian officials in the Oval Office.

In the meeting with Russia’s foreign minister and ambassador to the United States, Trump discussed threats from Islamic State involving laptops taken aboard airliners, intelligence that had been provided by a U.S. ally on the condition that it not be shared, the Washington Post reported.

The revelation touched off widespread dismay among members of Congress, including Republicans, who seemed to credit the published reports even as the White House disputed them.

“The White House has got to do something soon to bring itself under control and in order,” said Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “Obviously they’re in a downward spiral right now, and they’ve got to figure out a way to come to grips with all that’s happening.”

The White House issued carefully worded denials. In a brief and hastily scheduled appearance before reporters outside the West Wing, national security advisor H.R. McMaster said that “at no time were intelligence sources or methods discussed” in the meeting. “I was in the room. It did not happen,” he said before leaving without answering shouted questions.

The Post did not claim that the president had divulged intelligence sources and methods. Instead, its article said Trump discussed information during his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak that could allow Russia to deduce such highly classified matters.

The latest crisis for the administration came less than a week after the president summarily fired FBI Director James B. Comey, a move that was followed by days of often conflicting White House explanations.

The Post stood by its reporting, and the New York Times reported a similar account soon after the Post.

Although it is not illegal for a president to reveal classified information, administration officials were reportedly so concerned that Trump’s disclosure would antagonize the foreign ally that provided the intelligence that White House aides quickly notified the CIA and the National Security Agency.

McMaster did say the discussion with the Russians included “threats to civil aviation.”

Before he faced reporters, the White House distributed statements from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and deputy national security advisor Dina Powell disputing the Post’s account.

Tillerson, like McMaster, said there was no discussion of “sources, methods or military operations.”

Powell, who also participated in the meeting, flatly called the story “false.”

“The president only discussed the common threats that both countries faced,” she said.

The Russian officials visited the day after Trump fired Comey amid the ongoing U.S. investigation into the Trump campaign’s possible links to Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

A disclosure like that attributed to Trump would be illegal from anyone other than the president. But Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, said, “No one is above the rule of law in this country.”

“It is absolutely terrifying,” Blumenthal said. “It’s another example of the free press uncovering stuff that the American people should know that hopefully will cause an outcry and outrage that will have some cumulative effect in protecting our democracy.”

Other senators offered sharp reactions to the reports, calling the president’s action, if true, “terrifying,” “reckless” and “deeply disturbing.” The Post’s report came just as senators were arriving for an evening vote.

Sen. Richard J. Durbin, a Democrat of Illinois, the assistant minority leader, said such disclosure “may not only jeopardize our troops and our people, but the security of those who risk their lives to tell us what is actually happening.”

“If true, deeply disturbing,” tweeted Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the Republican who heads the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, echoed McCain, saying of the report, “If it’s true, it’d be troubling.”

Graham, reflecting the exasperation of many Republicans at being forced to respond to repeated Trump controversies, added, “I’m not going to speculate. I’m tired of speculating about Trump every five minutes.”

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco called for a full briefing for Congress on the extent of the potential damage done.

“Even if President Trump unwittingly blew a highly classified code-word source to the Russians, that would be dangerous enough. If the president outed a highly classified code-word source intentionally, that would be even more dangerous,” she said.

During his campaign, Trump seized on reports that Hillary Clinton had conducted State Department business on a personal email account to suggest she mishandled classified information and put the nation at risk. His attacks prompted supporters’ chants of “Lock her up!” at every rally, which he encouraged.

Trump, at one rally in Wisconsin, said Clinton’s actions were “worse than Watergate.” In another, he declared, “Hillary’s corrupt criminal scheme put the safety of every American family in danger.”

Reporters and Trump critics resurrected a Trump tweet in July in which he quoted Comey’s report on her emails: “Crooked Hillary Clinton and her team ‘were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.’ Not fit!”

“I don’t think it’s safe to have Hillary Clinton be briefed on national security because the word will get out,” Trump said during a rally the same month. Later he promised to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Clinton — a vow he withdrew after his election.

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For more White House coverage, follow @mikememoli on Twitter.

Staff writer Noah Bierman contributed to the report.

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UPDATES:

6:50 p.m.: This article was updated with staff reporting.

3:50 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from lawmakers and more details.

This article was originally published at 3:30 p.m.