In the Post story, Trump appeared to have divulged the information while boasting of the information he receives: “I get great intel. I have people brief me on great intel every day.”

Politico quoted an adviser “who often speaks to the president” speculating that Trump had indeed said what he said to impress his guests.

“He doesn't really know any boundaries. He doesn't think in those terms,” the source said. “He doesn't sometimes realize the implications of what he's saying. I don't think it was his intention in any way to share any classified information. He wouldn't want to do that.”

A former FBI official told The Daily Beast, “I don’t think he shared the classified intelligence to collude. I think he shared because he thinks he’s playing chess when he’s actually playing checkers. International affairs is not like buying a golf course.”

These apologies argue that the president is not a Russian plant. But they also make the case that Trump is simply not up to the job of being president: He is in over his head, unprepared, and not learning fast enough to avoid endangering American national security.

Deepening the problem, it’s not clear that Trump even understands the gravity of the error. That’s somewhat surprising, given that he went as far during the presidential campaign as to call for Edward Snowden to be executed for “giv[ing] serious information to Russia.”

Immediately after the Post story, the administration tried to push back on it. National-Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, the White House official who has the greatest credibility of any Trump aide, made a brief statement to reporters. He said:

The story that came out tonight, as reported, is false. The president and the foreign minister reviewed a range of common threats to our two countries, including threats to civil aviation. 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.

It didn’t take long to stress-test the putative denial and see what it didn’t say. The caveat “as reported” left McMaster space to quibble with the details of the story without contradicting the big picture. Meanwhile, his statement that Trump never discussed sources or methods or unknown military operations was beside the point, since the Post hadn’t said he did. McMaster was denying a story that didn’t exist. Post reporter Greg Miller went on CNN, where he accused the White House of “playing word games.” It’s notable that the Post said it was withholding sensitive information—which would require sensitive information to have been in play—and that the White House still has not specifically denied that Trump shared classified information.

The president then fired off a series of tweets Tuesday morning that, while not directly contradicting the denials of his dutiful aides, cast serious doubt on them:

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

Note the implication of the first tweet: Trump is saying he did share some information with the Russians. A White House spokesman was quick to insist that Trump’s tweet did not concede sharing classified information—which is true in strict literalist terms. But if the information were not sensitive, why is it that Trump was so eager to assert his “absolute right” to do so?