Donald Trump ‘revealed highly classified intelligence’ to Russia President Donald Trump has risked a fresh diplomatic row by revealing intelligence secrets to the Russian foreign minister and ambassador […]

President Donald Trump has risked a fresh diplomatic row by revealing intelligence secrets to the Russian foreign minister and ambassador during a White House meeting last week, according to reports.

The Washington Post, quoting current and former US officials, claims that Mr Trump’s disclosures to Sergei Lavrov and ambassador Sergey Kislyak jeopardised a critical source of intelligence on the Isis terror network.

The president was said to have relayed information provided by a US partner that was so sensitive it had not even been shared with allies and remains highly-restricted even within the US government.

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The partner had not given the US permission to share the material with Russia, and officials said that Mr Trump’s decision to do so risks cooperation from an ally that has access to the inner workings of Isis.

Damage

After the meeting, senior White House officials rushed to contain the damage – relating to a threat by Isis involving laptops on aircraft – by placing calls to the CIA and National Security Agency.

“This is code-word information,” a US official familiar with the matter told the Washington Post, using terminology that refers to one of the highest classification levels used by American spy agencies.

Mr Trump “revealed more information to the Russian ambassador than we have shared with our own allies”, added the source.

The revelation comes as Mr Trump faces rising legal and political pressure over alleged links with Russia.

Ongoing

Last week, he fired FBI Director James Comey despite an ongoing investigation into links between Mr Trump’s election campaign team and Moscow.

A day after dismissing Mr Comey, the president met Mr Lavrov and Mr Kislyak into the Oval Office. During the meeting, officials said, Mr Trump began describing details of an Isis threat related to the use of laptops on aeroplanes.

HR McMaster, the national security adviser, who was at the meeting, sought to downplay the row, saying: “At no time were any intelligence sources or methods discussed and no military operations were disclosed that were not already known publicly.”

The CIA and the National Security Agency have yet to respond to questions over the alleged lapse.

Concern

But other officials expressed concern with Mr Trump’s handling of sensitive information, which could hinder attempts to detect future threats.

“It is all kind of shocking,” said a former senior US official close to current administration officials.

“Trump seems to be very reckless, and doesn’t grasp the gravity of the things he’s dealing with, especially when it comes to intelligence and national security. And it’s all clouded because of this problem he has with Russia.”

In his meeting with the foreign minister, Mr Trump seemed to be boasting about his inside knowledge of the looming threat.

Trump seems to be very reckless, and doesn’t grasp the gravity of the things he’s dealing with, especially when it comes to intelligence and national security

“I get great intel. I have people brief me on great intel every day,” Mr Trump said, an official with knowledge of the exchange told the newspaper.