According to the latest bombshell report by the Washington Post, Trump's little meeting with Russian foreign minister Lavrov wasn't just a photo opportunity with Tass. Instead it appears that Trump disclosed some sensitive and key information critical to national security with...Russia.
According to the report, information Trump relayed had been provided by a U.S. partner through an intelligence-sharing arrangement considered so sensitive that details have been withheld from allies and tightly restricted even within the U.S. government.
And there's more. There's always more. "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."
Yes, that Islamic State. The one Trump claims to want to obliterate. 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.
“This is code-word information,” said one US official. Trump “revealed more information to the Russian ambassador than we have shared with our own allies.”
According to the Washington Post, Trump went off script during the meeting with Kislyak and Lavrov, describing details of an Islamic State terrorist threat related to the use of laptop computers on aircraft.
Worse yet, we can't shout "Lock him up!" over this because unlike every other government official on the planet, Trump can talk to anyone about anything he wants and just call it "declassified" on the spot.
For their part, the White House is denying there was any damage done or that Trump actually said as much as the report suggests.
Gen. H.R. McMaster will be making a statement shortly. This post will be updated as the news warrants.
Update: Senator Bob Corker's statements to the New York Times seem to indicate he's pretty close to the edge of his patience.
“The White House has got to do something soon to bring itself under control and in order,” Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee and the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters, adding, “It’s got to happen.”
“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,” Mr. Corker said.
Asked about the larger effect of the disclosure, Mr. Corker said, “To compromise a source is something that you just don’t do, and that’s why we keep the information that we get from intelligence sources so close as to prevent that from happening.”
Sen. Mark Warner was appalled, too:
