- President Trump tweeted Tuesday morning that he did relay information to Russian officials last week, because he wanted Russia to step up and help more in the fight against ISIS
- He also blasted his fired former FBI Director James Comey for not sniffing out leakers in the intelligence community
- National Security Adviser H. R. McMaste was sent out by the White House to publicly deny the Washington Post's report Monday night
- The Post reported that President Trump shared highly classified information with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov during an Oval Office meeting last week
- The paper reported that the information came from a U.S. ally through an intelligence-sharing network and pertained to ISIS plot to down airplanes using laptop computers
- Trump 'revealed more information to the Russian ambassador than we have shared with our own allies'
- 'This story is false. The president only discussed the common threats that both countries faced,' said Deputy National Security Advisor Dina Powell as well
President Trump defended himself against an onslaught of criticism on Tuesday morning after a report said he shared 'highly classified' information with the Russians about ISIS operations that came from a US ally.
'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 to terrorism and airline flight safety. Humanitarian reasons, plus I want Russia to greatly step up their fight against ISIS & terrorism,' Trump said in two tweets.
Trump's tweets seemingly confirm what the Washington Post first reported early Monday evening. A number of White House and Trump administration officials who released statements slapping down the Post story.
Leading the pack was Trump's National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, who told reporters outside the White House, 'The story that came out tonight is false.'
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Trump's tweets seemingly confirm what the Washigton Post reported, which a flock of White House and administration officials initially denied
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, US President Donald Trump, and Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergei Kislyak (L-R) talking during a meeting in the Oval Office at the White House
National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster called a Washington Post story 'false,' which said President Trump leaked 'highly classified' information to the Russians during an Oval Office meeting last week
Unnamed sources told the Washington Post that Trump had passed on the highly restricted 'code word' information during his Oval Office meeting last week with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov and Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States.
'This is code-word information,' a U.S. official told the paper, referring to the top classification level. The president 'revealed more information to the Russian ambassador than we have shared with our own allies.'
McMaster forcefully disputed the Post report – although his denial stated the thrust of the Post story to be incorrect 'as reported.'
'The president and the foreign minister reviewed a range of common threats to our two countries, including threats to civil aviation. At no time — at no time — were intelligence sources or methods discussed,' McMaster said.
Post reporter Greg Miller said on CNN Monday night that the White House was 'playing word games to try to blunt the impact of the story' and that he 'absolutely' stood behind it.
On Tuesday morning, Trump blasted his fired former FBI Director James Comey for not sniffing out the leakers in the intelligence community who presumably divulged the information that appeared in the Post.
'I have been asking Director Comey & others, from the beginning of my administration, to find the LEAKERS in the intelligence community,' Trump stated.
On Tuesday morning, Trump blasted his fired former FBI Director James Comey for not sniffing out leakers in the intelligence community
The White House acknowledged last week that Trump's frustration with the intelligence leaks was a factor in his decision to fire Comey.
'You can't deny somebody -- that that wasn’t a problem,' Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the deputy White House press secretary said. 'And so I think that was just another one of the many reasons that he no longer had the confidence of the President or the rest of the FBI.'
Intelligence community leakers were also responsible for revealing a Department of Justice conversation with the White House about former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.
Flynn told the vice president he did not discuss sanctions with Kisylak, the Russian ambassador with whom Trump is said to have discussed the classified information in front of in the Oval Office, during the transition. Justice had evidence to the contrary that it offered to the White House Counsel's office.
The Washington Post reported on the FBI's warning to the White House that Flynn had lied before it alerted the vice president. Mike Pence was left in the dark for two weeks as the White House looked into the acting attorney general's charges.
Sally Yates, a Barack Obama holdover who was running Justice, has since been dismissed. She testified last Monday that she was not the leaker - and doesn't know who is.
The Post dropped another bombshell yesterday that contained quotes from Trump in the Oval Office during his meeting last Wednesday with the Russians.
It didn't say Trump revealed sources and methods – but rather that he passed on to the Russians highly classified information obtained from an ally.
Monday evening the White House didn't directly address the accusation that Trump shared classified information from a foreign government that he wasn't supposed to.
'The president did not disclose any military operations that were not already publicly known,' McMaster said instead, something the Post story never contended occurred.
'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,' McMaster said in closely-watched remarks outside the White House, as reaction and concern rolled in from Capitol Hill.
'I was in the room — it didn’t happen,' he said, before abruptly ending his statement without taking questions.
The information pertained to a terror threat to aviation using bombs contained in electronic devices like laptops.
Paul Ryan also spoke out on Monday night about the reports, calling for Trump and his office to provide a full account of the meeting in which he is being accused of sharing secrets with Russia.
‘We have no way of knowing what was said, but protecting our nation’s secrets is paramount,’ the statement from Ryan's spokesman, Doug Andres, read.
‘The speaker hopes for a full explanation of the facts from the administration.'
The flurry of reports and counter-spin prompted the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, to warn of a 'downward spiral.'
'The White House has got to do something soon to bring itself under control and in order,' Corker said, Bloomberg reported. 'It’s got to happen,' he said.
'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,' Corker added.
Trump revealed the information to Lavrov while boasting about his own sources of knowledge, according to an official familiar with it.
'I get great intel. I have people brief me on great intel every day,' Trump reportedly said.
ALL SMILES: Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, US President Donald Trump, and Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergei Kislyak (L-R) talking during a meeting in the Oval Office at the White House. Alexander Shcherbak/TASS
The Russian embassy in Washington released this photo of President Trump warmly shaking hands with ambassador Sergey Kislyak
Images of President Donald Trump meeting with Russia's Sergei Lavrov in the Oval Office were issued by the Russian state news agency TASS, and subsequently published by much of the global media
The report comes after a flap over release of photos from the meeting, which occurred just after it was revealed Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, amid tumult over the FBI's Russia investigation.
As the latest sensational story to come out of Russia broke, White House press secretary Sean Spicer huddled with his communications team in the White House.
A series of press aides declined to comment to a group of reporters, including DailyMail.com, looking for confirmation or a denial that the president had passed on the information to the nation's longtime adversary.
McMaster commented only as he ran into a pack of reporters in the White House.
'This is the last place I wanted to be. I'm leaving,' he said as a joke.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), vice chair of the House Intelligence Committee, called the report 'deeply disturbing.'
'At no time were any intelligence sources or methods discussed, and no military operations were disclosed that were not already known publicly,' said national security advisor H.R. McMaster
McMaster soon confronted the White House press corps en masse.
'There's nothing that the president takes more seriously than the safety of the American people,' McMaster opened it up by saying.
Nancy Pelosi, speaking at a CNN town hall on Monday night, said if the reports are true it would be 'very, very damaging.'
'It undermines the trust that we would have with our allies,' she told the network.
Adam Schiff of California called the story 'deeply disturbing' and said if it's true, the disclosure could jeopardize sources of very sensitive intelligence and relationships with key allies.
The national security adviser explained that the president and the Russian 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,' he added. 'And the president did not disclose any military operations that were not already publicly known.'
McMaster said that 'two other senior officials that were present, including the secretary of state, remembered the meeting the same way and have said so.'
'They're on-the-record accounts should outweight those of anonymous sources. I was in the room,' he said. 'It didn't happen.'
McMaster then left the bouquet of microphones without answering any questions.
His statement followed a number of written statements, including one Secretary of State Rex Tillerson released to CNN, which didn't deny the president passed on secret information.
'During President Trump’s meeting with Foreign Minister Lavrov, a broad range of subjects were discussed, among which were common efforts and threats regarding counter-terrorism. During that exchange, the nature of specific threats were discussed, but they did not discuss sources, methods, or military operations,' Tillerson said.
In the same statement, which was released by the White House, Deputy National Security Advisor Dina Powell said: 'This story is false. The president only discussed the common threats that both countries faced.'
The president has broad authority to declassify information unilaterally, which would insulate him from having done anything illegal.
President Trump blasted his 2016 presidential election opponent, whom he called 'crooked' Hillary Clinton, as 'not fit' for office because of her 'careless' handling of classified information
Lower-level government officials who disclose highly-classified information, even without ill intent, can get prosecuted.
Trump ran, in part, by campaigning that Hillary Clinton had put the nation's security at risk through her use of a private email server while secretary of state.
'Crooked Hillary Clinton and her team 'were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information,' Trump tweeted in July after Comey called her out in a press conference where he nevertheless didn't reccommend prosecution. 'Not fit!'
According to the report, Trump discussed aspects of the threat learned through the unspecified espionage capabilities of a 'key partner.'
He didn't reveal the specific sources and methods, but nevertheless described how ISIS was seeking to carry out a plot.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer didn't even get asked about about the Russia meetings at Monday's White House press briefing
An official said Trump revealed the city within ISIS territory where a U.S. ally detected the threat, according to unnamed officials.
That could run the risk of compromising the source, since the Russians are engaged in a military campaign in Syria, where they are propping up dictator Bashar al-Assad.
McMaster is quoted in the article saying no sources or methods were disclosed, without denying Trump leaked classified information.
'The president and the foreign minister reviewed common threats from terrorist organizations to include threats to aviation,' said McMaster, who participated int he meeting. 'At no time were any intelligence sources or methods discussed, and no military operations were disclosed that were not already known publicly,' he said.
Looming behind Russia's meeting are congressional investigations and an FBI investigation into alleged Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election.
Trump fired James Comey, who was atop the investigation, last week, drawing howls of protest from Democrats and some Republicans. Trump first attributed the firing to Comey's handling of Hillary Clinton's email scandal, but later told NBC Russia was on his mind when he made the decision.
'Everyone knows this stream is very sensitive, and the idea of sharing it at this level of granularity with the Russians is troubling,' a former U.S. counterterrorism official told the Post.
Trump's meeting with the Russians came during a week when he sacked his FBI Director, James Comey, who was overseeing an investigation of alleged Russian election interference
The timing of Trump's Russia meetings were noteworthy given the intense focus on all things Russia.
Moscow also put out images of Trump greeting a smiling Sergey Kislyak, Russia's ambassador to the U.S. They got released by the TASS news agency, the Russian embassy, and the Russian Foreign Ministry.
The White House kept U.S. photographers out, and didn't put any photo record out until a day after the fact.
The White House flickr account did not post a Kislyak photo with the president.
The official White House readout of Trump's meeting didn't mention that Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak was there.
Trump trolled his critics late Thursday by tweeting out a photo of him and Lavrov – as well as an image of himself meeting with Ukraine's foreign minister.
'Yesterday, on the same day- I had meetings with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the FM of Ukraine, Pavlo Klimkin. #LETSMAKEPEACE!' Trump wrote.
Trump's frank comments at a meeting that included Kislyak are all the more noteworthy because Kislyak is at the center of a burgeoning investigation into his presidential campaign's Russia contacts.
Trump fired former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn after Flynn was revealed to have met with Kislyak during the transition and then failing to tell Vice President Mike Pence about it.
'We have no way to know what was said, but protecting our nation's secrets is paramount. The speaker hopes for a full explanation of the facts from the administration,' said Doug Andres, a spokesman for House Speaker Paul Ryan in early reaction Monday evening.
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