Trump says he has ‘absolute right’ to share info with Russia

Washington, UNITED STATES | AFP | US President Donald Trump on Tuesday insisted he had the right to share “facts” with Russia, saying he acted to help Moscow in its “fight against ISIS and terrorism.”

His Twitter message came one day after news broke that he allegedly divulged classified information to Russia’s foreign minister and ambassador to Washington during their visit last week to the Oval Office. The official spoke only on condition that neither he nor his country be identified, because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly

At the White House, Trump said in his tweets, “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," he tweeted. As the president of the United States finds himself embroiled in yet another scandal, he has resorted to his standard defense – double down, admit nothing, and basically say, “I’m president and I can do what the hell I want.”

In an explosive Washington Post story published on Tuesday, intelligence sources revealed that President Trump disclosed highly classified information to the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, and the Russian ambassador, Sergey I. Kislyak during a meeting at the White House last week – information that was so sensitive that it was not even shared with U.S. allies. The Washington Post’s report Monday claims Trump put a source of intelligence on the Islamic State at risk during his meeting with visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Jim Jeffrey, a former US ambassador who served as deputy national security adviser in the George W. Bush administration, agreed: "The ally who provided the info will have to be told, and that could restrict future reporting" of sensitive intelligence between the partners, he said on Monday. “At no time, at no time were intelligence sources or methods discussed and the president did not disclose any military operations that were not already publicly known.”

The revelations could further damage Trump’s already fraught relationship with U.S. intelligence agencies. "The second damage is that third countries who provide the United States with intelligence information will now have pause to do so if the United States is sharing such information with the Russians without their permission."
U.S. intelligence officials had warned Israel not to share sensitive information with President Trump, out of fear that it could be leaked to Russia, and then from Russia to Iran.