WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump insisted Tuesday he had the right to share information with Russia related to terrorism and other issues, his first public response to the revelation he disclosed classified information at an Oval Office meeting last week. The concern over protecting classified information and intelligence sources abroad comes after it was reported that President Donald Trump may have shared classified information with Russian officials when he met with them last week in the Oval Office. “I’m concerned about the fact that the President feels like he has to give something to Russia first when there have been repeated instances of Russia being sanctioned in Ukraine, committing war crimes in Syria and conducting operations that are contrary to what we’d like to believe are freedom of operations and sovereignties of different nations,” he said Tuesday on CNN’s “New Day.” “This confuses me to no end.”

Phil Mudd, a former CIA analyst, said on “New Day” the fact that Trump chose to discuss classified information but did not ask Russia about its role in the 2016 election is problematic. The White House also released a statement from secretary of state Rex Tillerson, who said the Oval Office meeting focused on counterterrorism, and from deputy national security adviser Dina Powell, who also called the Washington Post story false. “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.”

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also disputed the Post report. McMaster's statement, read at a hastily arranged press conference Monday evening, is his last line about The Washington Post's bombshell report that President Trump shared highly classified intelligence with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in their already unusual Oval Office meeting: "I was in the room. While Donald Trump is unlikely to face legal fall-out from allegedly sharing highly classified information with Russian diplomats last week, it’s worth noting that the White House readout of the meeting didn’t note that Trump had discussed the Islamic State threat with Lavrov and Kislyak in any capacity, classified or otherwise. "The partner had not given the United States permission to share the material with Russia, and officials said Trump’s decision to do so endangers cooperation from an ally that has access to the inner workings of the Islamic State." After the meeting, officials from the White House (assume McMaster and Powell) took steps to try to contain the fallout, reaching out to the CIA and NSA for help.
According to a current and a former unnamed U.S. government official, President Donald Trump revealed classified information that jeopardized a critical source of intelligence on the Islamic State during his Oval Office meeting with the Russian Foreign Minister and Ambassador on May 10.