In yet another controversy, The Washington Post reported that President Trump revealed top secret information to the Russians during his talks last week with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. According to the report, the information had to do with threats from ISIS and exposed a crucial source.
But now Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and National Security Advisor H. R. McMaster, who was present at the meeting, are forcefully denying the report.
So how do we know which is fake news? The Washington Post story had to have come from someone inside the White House leaking it to the press. So some of the president’s people are undermining him and some are defending him.
If this incident is true, it shows the president’s carelessness and diplomatic inexperience, as well as being another example of his ungoverned tongue. It should not be construed, as some of his enemies probably will spin it, as revealing information to his Russian masters who put him into office. Even the worst construction of the alleged conversation doesn’t support that.
Top Trump administration officials pushed back against a published report Monday that accused President Trump of revealing classified information about the Islamic State to Russian diplomats in a White House meeting last week.
Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson said Mr. Trump did speak with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov about “the nature of specific threats” from the terrorist group, “but they did not discuss sources, methods or military operations.”
He said the Oval Office meeting covered “a broad range of subjects,” including “common efforts and threats regarding counterterrorism.”
The Washington Post, citing anonymous current and former U.S. government officials, published a report Monday afternoon saying the president disclosed highly classified information to the Russians that jeopardized a critical source of intelligence on the Islamic State.
The article alleged that Mr. Trump relayed information to the Russian diplomats that had been provided by a U.S. partner, and was considered so sensitive that details had been withheld from allies and restricted within the U.S. government.
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