A leading Republican Senator has claimed Donald Trump’s administration is in a ‘downward spiral’ – as backlash grows following reports the president shared ‘highly classified’ information with top Russian officials during an Oval Office meeting last week.
Bob Corker, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, was one of the first Republicans to speak out against the White House after reports emerged in the Washington Post.
‘The White House has got to do something soon to bring itself under control and in order,’ Corker said.
The Washington Post report claimed Trump revealed highly classified information about Islamic State militants last week.
Three White House officials who were in the May 10 meeting strongly denounced the story, claiming no intelligence sources and methods were discussed – but they didn’t deny that classified information was disclosed.
But the Post’s report, citing current and former US officials, shared details about an ISIS terror threat related to the use of laptop computers on aircraft with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
The anonymous officials told the Post that the information Trump relayed during the Oval Office meeting had been provided by a U.S. partner through an intelligence-sharing arrangement.
They said it was considered so sensitive that details have been withheld from allies and tightly restricted even within the US government.
After the reports emerged on Monday, Republican Senator Susan Collins also lashed out at Trump’s office.
‘Can we have a crisis-free day? That’s all I’m asking,’ she told reporters, according to HLN’s Carol Costello.
John McCain also offered a timid criticism of Trump, saying: ‘We certainly don’t want any president to leak classified information, but the president does have the right to do that.’
Democratic leaders were understandably much more stringent in their response to the reports.
Adam Schiff of California called the story ‘deeply disturbing’ and said if it’s true, the disclosure could jeopardize sources of very sensitive intelligence and relationships with key allies.
That the Russians would be the potential recipients of this intelligence and may be able to determine its source is all the more problematic, since the Russian interest in Syria and elsewhere is, in many respects, deeply antithetical to our own,’ Schiff said.
He added that he wants the House intelligence committee fully briefed on what, if anything, was shared with the Russian officials.
Virginia Senator Mark Warner tweeted: ‘If true, this is a slap in the face to the intel community. Risking sources & methods is inexcusable, particularly with the Russians.’
Senator Martin Heinrich chimed in with some sarcastic, helpful advice for the president: ‘Protip: Don’t give the Russians classified information. #Classified101.’
Former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell also said he was concerned by the latest round of reports.
‘This is highly damaging for two reasons,’ Morell told CBS News.
‘First, the Russians will undoubtedly try to figure out the source or the method of this information to make sure that it is not also collecting on their activities in Syria – and in trying to do that they could well disrupt the source.
‘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.’
Source: Republicans speak about about latest Trump reports | Daily Mail Online
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