US president appears to mistakenly assume reports accused him of naming Israel, but his eagerness to deny those reports may confirm them as accurate

Donald Trump appears to have inadvertently confirmed that Israel was the source of intelligence he shared with Russia.

The US president, currently on the second leg of his first foreign trip, took a swipe at the media during off-the-cuff remarks alongside Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

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Earlier this month, Trump shared details about an Islamic State terror threat, related to the use of laptop computers on aircrafts, with Sergei Lavrov and Russia’s ambassador to the US, Sergey Kislyak. Subsequent reports suggested that the source of the intelligence was Israel but, crucially, did not allege that Trump had mentioned this fact to the Russians.

A journalist from the Bloomberg agency asked Netanyahu if he had any concerns about intelligence cooperation with the US, according to a pool report on Monday. The prime minister insisted: “Intelligence cooperation is terrific. It’s never been better.”

For his part, Trump said: “I never mentioned the word or the name ‘Israel’. Never mentioned during that conversation. They’re all saying I did, so you have another story wrong. Never mentioned the word ‘Israel’.”



The president’s eagerness to defend his own conduct, coupled with his failure to deny that he shared intelligence or that Israel was indeed the source, appeared to confirm that the latter point was accurate and that he had mistakenly assumed the media reports accused him of naming Israel.

Trump’s lack of discretion during his Oval Office meeting with Russian officials raised concerns that he had put sources at risk and that Israel and other allies would be more reluctant to share information with Washington in future. The White House insisted he had not said anything inappropriate.

Meanwhile, it was reported on Monday that Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser, would not comply with a Senate subpoena for documents on his links to Russia and would invoke his constitutional protection against self-incrimination.

The Senate intelligence committee had asked Flynn earlier this month to hand over all records related to his communications with Russian officials by this Wednesday. But he is expected to send a letter on Monday invoking his fifth amendment rights, according to the Associated Press.

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Flynn, a key figure in the investigation into links between Trump’s election campaign and Russia’s interference in last year’s presidential election, previously offered to testify before the Senate and House intelligence committees in exchange for immunity, but neither accepted the offer.

The retired army lieutenant general was fired as national security adviser in February. Trump said he had he misled senior administration officials, including the vice-president, about his contacts with Russian officials, including Kislyak.



This would be the second time Flynn has refused to comply with requests for documents from the Senate committee. He also rejected one in late April similar to those received by other Trump associates, including Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, his associate Roger Stone and his former foreign policy adviser Carter Page.