President Donald Trump revealed highly classified information about so-called Islamic State (IS) to Russia’s foreign minister, US media report.<\/p>\n
The information, related to the use of laptops on aircraft, came from a partner of the US which had not given permission for it to be shared with Russia, says the Washington Post.<\/p>\n
Mr Trump received Sergei Lavrov in the Oval Office last week.<\/p>\n
National Security Adviser HR McMaster dismissed the story as “false”.<\/p>\n
The Trump campaign’s alleged links to Moscow have dogged his presidency and are part of several investigations.<\/p>\n
But the president has dismissed such allegations as “fake news”.<\/p>\n
During the election campaign, Mr Trump repeatedly criticised his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, for how she handled sensitive material.<\/p>\n
What actually happened?<\/strong><\/p>\n In a conversation with the Russian foreign minister and Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak in the Oval Office, the president revealed details that could lead to the exposure of a source of information, officials told the Washington Post and the New York Times.<\/p>\n The discussion was about an IS plot. The president reportedly went “off-script”, revealing specifics of the plot, thought to centre on the use of laptop computers on aircraft, and the city from which that threat had been detected.<\/p>\n The intelligence disclosed came from a US ally and was considered too sensitive to share with other US allies, the papers report.<\/p>\n Others present realised the mistake and scrambled to “contain the damage” by informing the CIA and the National Security Agency (NSA), says the Post.<\/p>\n Mr Trump’s actions would not be illegal, as the US president has the authority to declassify information.<\/p>\n The meeting came a day after Mr Trump fired his FBI chief, James Comey, sparking criticism that he had done so because the FBI was investigating alleged Russian ties.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" President Donald Trump revealed highly classified information about so-called Islamic State (IS) to Russia’s foreign minister, US media report. The information, related to the use of laptops on aircraft, came from a partner of the US which had not given permission for it to be shared with Russia, says the Washington Post. Mr Trump received […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[107],"tags":[910,109,2747],"yoast_head":"\n