President Trump early Tuesday admitted that he shared “facts” with Russian officials, a day after the Washington Post and others reported that the President passed on highly classified info to the Russian foreign minister and Russia’s ambassador to U.S. during a meeting in the Oval Office.
Trump said he had the “absolute right” to share the information.
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….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 16, 2017
…to terrorism and airline flight safety. Humanitarian reasons, plus I want Russia to greatly step up their fight against ISIS & terrorism.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 16, 2017
During the Oval Office meeting last week — which occurred amid the fallout over the President’s firing of FBI Director James Comey — Trump reportedly shared information about an ISIS threat, that was obtained from an American intelligence partner, according to the Washington Post.