Donald Trump's disclosure of classified information to Russia

File:President Trump Meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (34597652845).jpg

President Trump meets with Lavrov (pictured) and Kislyak on May 10, 2017. A photographer from Russian News Agency TASS was present, but no other press.

President Donald Trump discussed highly classified intelligence during a May 10, 2017, Oval Office meeting with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, providing sufficient details that could be used by the Russians to deduce the source of the information and the manner in which it was collected, according to current and former government officials. The disclosure was first reported in The Washington Post on May 15, 2017. White House staff initially denied the report, but the following day Trump defended the disclosure, stating that he has the "absolute right" to "share" intelligence with Russia.

It was later reported that Israel was the source of the intelligence. Israel did not confirm or deny the report but released a statement stating full confidence in the intelligence sharing relationships with the United States. Ynetnews, an Israeli online news site, reported on January 12 that U.S. intelligence advised Israeli intelligence officers to be cautious about sharing information with the incoming Trump administration, until the possibility of Russian influence over Trump, suggested by Christopher Steele's report (commonly referred as the Donald Trump–Russia dossier), has been fully investigated. U.S. officials were concerned that the information could be passed to Russia, and then from Russia to Iran. Several Israeli intelligence officials confirmed privately that Trump's disclosure of the intel to Russia "confirmed their worst fears" about Trump, that the disclosure jeopardizes Israel's "unique" intelligence-sharing arrangement with United States and that Israeli officials were "boiling mad".

The report was described as "shocking" and "horrifying" by some commentators and officials. According to current and former U.S. officials interviewed by ABC News, Trump's disclosure endangered the life of a spy placed by Israel in ISIL-held territory in Syria. The classified information Trump shared came from a source described as the most valuable of any current sources on any current external plotting, according to The Wall Street Journal.

It was also reported that Trump disclosed other classified information, namely the rough location of two nuclear submarines, to Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte in a phone call on April 29. On May 24, Britain strongly objected to the United States' leaking information, including the identity of the attacker in the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing, while their investigations were still underway, jeopardizing the investigation. Leaks of sensitive information by the U.S. has led to the review of intelligence sharing arrangements by key allies, and also a review by the Department of Justice regarding the leaks from the United States.

Disclosures and reporting

On May 15, 2017, The Washington Post, citing anonymous sources, reported that the intelligence was about an Islamic State plot to stealthily use laptops as weapons that can then explode in Western countries, and that a Middle Eastern ally provided the intelligence, which was codeword-classified, meaning that its distribution was restricted only to those who were explicitly cleared to read it, and was not intended to be shared beyond the United States and certain allies. The incident was later reported by The New York Times, Buzzfeed, and Reuters. The officials talking to BuzzFeed said, "it's far worse than what has already been reported."

Immediately after Trump's disclosure, "which one of the officials described as spontaneous", "senior White House officials appeared to recognize quickly that Trump had overstepped and moved to contain the potential fallout." Immediately after the meeting, Thomas P. Bossert, assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism, telephoned the directors of the CIA and the NSA to inform them what had occurred.

The incident was widely seen as a pivot away from traditional American allies, and towards closer relations with Russia, and raised questions on whether the United States would remain in Five Eyes (an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States) and its relationship to the FBI investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.

Several commentators stated that by releasing highly classified information to Russia, Trump jeopardized American and allied intelligence sources, breached the trust relationship with America's foreign partners, threatened the long term national security of the country and violated his oath of office through "gross negligence". All of these actions are possible legal grounds towards efforts to impeach Donald Trump. Aides privately defended the President, stating that Trump did not have sufficient interest or knowledge of the intelligence gathering process to leak specific sources or methods of intelligence gathering; National Security Advisor H. R. McMaster publicly maintained that Trump had not been briefed on the origins of the intelligence in question, and therefore could not have compromised the source.

According to conservative commentator Erick Erickson, multiple sources have stated that the leaks were far worse than the current reports, and the leaker is a strong supporter of President Trump who believed it was necessary to publicly disclose the story because of Trump's inability to accept criticism.

White House response

White House staff initially denied the veracity of the report during the evening of May 15, but Trump appeared to confirm during the early morning of May 16 the allegations that he shared classified intelligence, saying that Russia is an important ally of the United States—including on terrorism.

In a press briefing on the same day, McMaster strongly denied The Washington Post report, saying, "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. Two other senior officials who were present, including the secretary of state, remember the meeting the same way and have said so. And their on-the-record accounts should outweigh those of anonymous sources." He concluded by saying, "I was in the room, it didn't happen." McMaster said that "it was wholly appropriate to share" the information because of a similar ISIL plot two years earlier.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson stated that "common efforts and threats regarding counter-terrorism" were discussed in the meeting with Lavrov, but not "sources, methods or military operations". Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategy Dina Habib Powell flatly rejected the Post article, saying: "This story is false. The president only discussed the common threats that both countries faced."

On May 16, Trump implicitly confirmed a disclosure in a tweet, claiming that, "As President I wanted to share with Russia (at an openly scheduled W.H. meeting) which I have the absolute right to do, facts pertaining ... to terrorism and airline flight safety. Humanitarian reasons, plus I want Russia to greatly step up their fight against ISIS & terrorism."

Origin of the intelligence

The May 15 The Washington Post report only reported that the intelligence came from an unnamed Middle Eastern ally. On May 16, The New York Times named the relevant ally and source of the intelligence as Israel, saying that as a consequence, Trump's boasts to the Russian envoys could damage America's relationship with Israel and endanger Israel's security if Russia passes the intelligence on to Russia's ally, and Israel's main threat in the Middle East, namely Iran. The intelligence was so sensitive that it hadn't even been shared among key U.S. allies.

Israeli intelligence officials were reportedly horrified by the disclosure. In public comments, Israeli officials including intelligence minister Yisrael Katz, Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer, and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said the intelligence services of the two countries would continue to share information, with Dermer saying "Israel has full confidence in our intelligence-sharing relationship with the United States." However, speaking privately, unnamed Israeli sources said they might need to reassess what intelligence they share with the U.S. Israeli officials stated that it is Israel's "worst fears confirmed" about Donald Trump. The officials also stated that Israeli intelligence officers were "boiling mad and demanding answers" on its current intelligence-sharing agreement with the US.

On May 22, while visiting Israel, Trump appeared to confirm both the disclosures and the identity of Israel as the source, telling the press "Folks, folks, just so you understand, just so you understand, I never mentioned the word or the name Israel during that conversation." It had been widely reported before May 22 that Israel was the source.

United States Congress reaction

U.S. House

Speaker of the House Republican Paul Ryan said through a spokesman that he "hopes for a full explanation of the facts from the administration".

U.S. Senate

Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that the allegations were "very, very troubling" if true. Senator John McCain called the report "deeply disturbing" and said that "Reports that this information was provided by a U.S. ally and shared without its knowledge sends a troubling signal to America's allies and partners around the world and may impair their willingness to share intelligence with us in the future." McCain stated: "Regrettably, the time President Trump spent sharing sensitive information with the Russians was time he did not spend focusing on Russia's aggressive behavior, including its interference in American and European elections, its illegal invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea, its other destabilizing activities across Europe, and the slaughter of innocent civilians and targeting of hospitals in Syria."

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer stated "The president owes the intelligence community, the American people and Congress a full explanation" and Senator Dick Durbin, the Senate Democratic Whip, said that Trump's conduct was "dangerous" and "reckless". Senator Jack Reed, the ranking Democratic member of the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services, stated that "President Trump's recklessness with sensitive information is deeply disturbing and clearly problematic." The Democratic National Committee issued a statement reading: "If Trump weren't president, his dangerous disclosure to Russia could end with him in handcuffs."

Foreign reactions

Foreign reaction was overwhelmingly negative. A top European intelligence official stated that sharing of intelligence with the United States would cease if the country confirms that Trump did indeed share classified information with Russia, because sharing intel with Americans while Trump is president could put their sources at risk.

Germany

Burkhard Lischka, a member of the German Bundestag's intelligence oversight committee, said that if Trump "passes this information to other governments at will, then Trump becomes a security risk for the entire western world".

Russia

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova denied the U.S. media reports.

Academic reactions

Several professors of law, political science and international relations, as well as intelligence experts, were alarmed by Trump's disclosure.

Intelligence expert Amy Zegart of Stanford University noted that Trump revealed code word intelligence, which is the highest layer of classification, even higher than the "top secret" classification. Such information, if revealed could reasonably be expected to cause "exceptionally grave damage" to the national security of the United States. She wrote, "so just how bad is the damage? On a scale of 1 to 10—and I'm just ball parking here—it's about a billion."

Counterterrorism expert Daniel Byman of Georgetown University said that disclosures such as Trump's could jeopardize intelligence sharing relationships, which "perhaps more than any other policy instrument ... play a vital role in counterterrorism against global terrorist groups like the Islamic State and Al Qaeda." The effects could be "disastrous".

Professor Jack Goldsmith and other contributors to the Lawfare Blog argued that Trump's leaking of classified information could be a violation of the President's oath of office: "There's thus no reason why Congress couldn't consider a grotesque violation of the President's oath as a standalone basis for impeachment—a high crime and misdemeanor in and of itself. This is particularly plausible in a case like this, where the oath violation involves giving sensitive information to an adversary foreign power. That's getting relatively close to the "treason" language in the impeachment clauses; it's pretty easy to imagine a hybrid impeachment article alleging a violation of the oath in service of a hostile foreign power. So legally speaking, the matter could be very grave for Trump even though there is no criminal exposure." While Goldsmith argued Trump "did not violate any criminal law concerning the disclosure of classified information" because of the president's broad authority to declassify information, another legal scholar, Professor Stephen Vladeck, wrote that the president's "constitutional power over national security information" is not unfettered and that Trump's disclosures "may actually have been illegal under federal law."

Harvard Law emeritus professor Alan Dershowitz called the incident "the most serious charge ever made against a sitting president" and said that it was "devastating", with "very serious political, diplomatic, and international implications".

See also

• 2017 electronics ban
• Timeline of events related to Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election