President Donald Trump revealed highly classified information to Russia’s foreign minister and ambassador to the United States during an Oval Office meeting last week, the Washington Post reported Monday.
The information disclosed by the US leader concerned the Islamic State group and had been provided by a partner of the United States, which had not given Washington authorization to share it with Moscow, the paper said.
Trump “revealed more information to the Russian ambassador than we have shared with our own allies,” the Post quoted a US official as saying on condition of anonymity.
According to the official, the information Trump shared with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak carried one of the highest levels of classification used by US intelligence agencies.
The Post reported that “Trump went off script and began describing details about an Islamic State terrorist threat related to the use of laptop computers on aircraft.”
The paper said it was withholding details of the plot at the urging of US officials who are concerned it could jeopardize key intelligence capabilities.
The White House did not initially respond to an AFP request for comment.
Trump’s closed-door meeting with the Russian officials came a day after his surprise firing of FBI chief James Comey, whose agency is investigating whether the president’s campaign team colluded with a suspected Russian attempt to sway last year’s election in his favor.
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