The US secretly extricated a top spy from Russia shortly after Donald Trump hosted the Russian foreign minister and ambassador to the US in the Oval Office, according to reports.

The extraction in 2017 is said to have occurred over fears that President Trump’s attitude towards classified information could pose a risk to the agent, CNN reported.

White House spokesperson Stephanie Grisham denied the claims, saying: “CNN’s reporting is not only incorrect, it has the potential to put lives in danger.”

The spy was reportedly in a position to give insight and information on Vladimir Putin’s thinking. The CNN report indicates that the agent was removed at least in part over concerns that Mr Trump had mishandled classified information during an Oval Office meeting with then-Russian ambassador to the US Sergei Kislyak and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov.

The information Mr Trump disclosed to the Russians was related to intelligence about Isis in Syria, and had been provided by Israel.

While that intelligence was not directly related to the spy in the Russian government, the disclosure is nevertheless thought to have sparked a discussion among intelligence officials about potential exposure.

In pictures: US banker jailed by Russian court for fraud Show all 14 1 /14 In pictures: US banker jailed by Russian court for fraud In pictures: US banker jailed by Russian court for fraud 2019-02-15T185050Z-1041913715-RC11E657B970-RTRMADP-3-RUSSIA-BUSINESS-DETENTION.JPG Founder of the Baring Vostok private equity group Michael Calvey, who was detained on suspicion of fraud, reacts inside a defendants' cage as he attends a court hearing in Moscow, Russia February 15, 2019. REUTERS/Tatyana Makeyeva In pictures: US banker jailed by Russian court for fraud 07372543.jpg US investor Michael Calvey attends a hearing on investigators' motion on his arrest in connection with Baring Vostok criminal case at the Basmanny district court in Moscow, Russia, 15 February 2019. US investor Michael Calvey, senior partner at the Baring Vostok private equity funds, was detained in Moscow on fraud charges along with some other partners of the company. EPA/MAXIM SHIPENKOV In pictures: US banker jailed by Russian court for fraud 1125031857.jpg MOSCOW, RUSSIA - FEBRUARY 15, 2019: Alexei Kordichev, chairman of the Board of Directors at PNB Banka (previously Norvik Banka), former chairman of the Board at Vostochny Bank (Orient Express Bank), suspected of large-scale fraud, ahead of a hearing at Moscow's Basmanny District Court. The court considers arresting Kordichev in connection with the criminal case against Michael Calvey, founder of the Baring Vostok Investment Fund. Sergei Bobylev\\TASS via Getty Images In pictures: US banker jailed by Russian court for fraud 1125022312.jpg Baring Vostok Investment Manager Maxim Vladimirov suspected of complicity in a large-scale fraud attends a hearing at Moscow's Basmanny District Court to consider his arrest in connection with the criminal case against Michael Calvey, founder of the Baring Vostok Investment Fund. Sergei Bobylev\\TASS via Getty Images In pictures: US banker jailed by Russian court for fraud 1125022291.jpg MOSCOW, RUSSIA - FEBRUARY 15, 2019: Baring Vostok Partner Vagan Abgaryan suspected of complicity in a large-scale fraud attends a hearing at Moscow's Basmanny District Court to consider his arrest in connection with the criminal case against Michael Calvey, founder of the Baring Vostok Investment Fund. Sergei Bobylev\\TASS via Getty Images In pictures: US banker jailed by Russian court for fraud 07372494.jpg US investor Michael Calvey (back C) is escorted to attend hearing on investigators' motion on his arrest in connection with Baring Vostok criminal case at the Basmanny district court in Moscow, Russia, 15 February 2019. US investor Michael Calvey, senior partner at the Baring Vostok private equity funds, was detained in Moscow on fraud charges along with some other partners of the company. EPA/MAXIM SHIPENKOV In pictures: US banker jailed by Russian court for fraud urn-publicid-ap.org-93277d8c217f4568b96b8b1904b7e396.jpg Founder of the Baring Vostok investment fund Michael Calvey sits in a cage in the court room in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. A veteran U.S. investment fund manager has been detained in Moscow and faces fraud charges. A Moscow court said on Friday that Michael Calvey, founder and senior partner at Baring Vostok equity firm, was detained alongside two other fund managers. AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko In pictures: US banker jailed by Russian court for fraud 07372493.jpg The Pervoye Kollektorskoye Bureau (First Collection Bureau) CEO Maxim Vladimirov is escorted to attend hearing on investigators' motion on his arrest in connection with Baring Vostok criminal case at the Basmanny district court in Moscow, Russia, 15 February 2019. U.S. investor Michael Calvey, senior partner at the Baring Vostok private equity funds, was detained in Moscow on fraud charges along with some other partners of the company, including business partner Maxim Vladimirov. EPA/MAXIM SHIPENKOV In pictures: US banker jailed by Russian court for fraud 1125031852.jpg Alexei Kordichev (C), chairman of the Board of Directors at PNB Banka (previously Norvik Banka), former chairman of the Board at Vostochny Bank (Orient Express Bank), suspected of large-scale fraud, ahead of a hearing at Moscow's Basmanny District Court. The court considers arresting Kordichev in connection with the criminal case against Michael Calvey, founder of the Baring Vostok Investment Fund. Sergei Bobylev/TASS In pictures: US banker jailed by Russian court for fraud 1125031860.jpg MOSCOW, RUSSIA - FEBRUARY 15, 2019: Michael Calvey, founder of the Baring Vostok Investment Fund, suspected of large-scale fraud, during a hearing at Moscow's Basmanny District Court. Sergei Bobylev\\TASS via Getty Images In pictures: US banker jailed by Russian court for fraud 1125032009.jpg Michael Calvey, founder of the Baring Vostok Investment Fund, suspected of large-scale fraud, during a hearing at Moscow's Basmanny District Court. Sergei Bobylev\\TASS via Getty Images In pictures: US banker jailed by Russian court for fraud 2019-02-15T152441Z-650771727-RC114BA8B5A0-RTRMADP-3-RUSSIA-BUSINESS-DETENTION.JPG Founder of the Baring Vostok private equity group Michael Calvey, who was detained on suspicion of fraud, stands inside a defendants' cage as he attends a court hearing in Moscow, Russia February 15, 2019. REUTERS/Tatyana Makeyeva In pictures: US banker jailed by Russian court for fraud AFP-1DH711.jpg US investor Michael Calvey, the head of investment company Baring Vostok, detained on fraud charges, attends a court hearing in Moscow's Basmanny Court on February 15, 2019. - Russia has detained the US head of a major investment firm on suspicion of fraud along with several other people from the fund and other businesses, a court spokesperson told Russian news agencies. VASILY MAXIMOV/AFP/Getty Images In pictures: US banker jailed by Russian court for fraud 1125062626.jpg US investor, founder and senior partner at Baring Vostok, Michael Calvey (back), who is suspected of involvement in swindling 2.5b roubles from Vostochny Bank, attends a hearing at Moscow's Basmanny District Court into an application for a warrant for his detention; 5 Baring Vostok workers, including Calvey, and one Norvik Banka worker, have been arrested in connection with the ongoing probe into the fraud; Baring Vostok holds a controlling stake in Vostochny Bank. Sergei Bobylev\\TASS via Getty Images

“CNN’s narrative that the Central Intelligence Agency makes life-or-death decisions based on anything other than objective analysis and sound collection is simply false,” a CIA spokesperson told the news outlet when contacted. “Misguided speculation that the president’s handling of our nation’s most sensitive intelligence – which he has access to each and every day – drove an alleged exfiltration operation is inaccurate.”

The reported removal of the American asset came at a time when the US intelligence community was especially concerned with Mr Trump’s handling of classified information, and that concern was only heightened after the president met the two Russians.

The extraction came just weeks before Mr Trump met Russian president Vladimir Putin in Hamburg in private during the G20 summit. Mr Trump confiscated notes taken by an interpreter at the end of that meeting – an unusual action for a president, and one that suggests an added layer of secrecy.

There had been mounting concern over the safety of the asset, beginning at least at the end of the Obama administration when officials became concerned about the length of time the agent spent co-operating with the US.

Those concerns were exacerbated in 2017 when the US intelligence community released a public report accusing the Russian government of meddling in the 2016 election at Mr Putin’s behest.

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The president’s handling of classified information during his first few months in office then added more concern, leading to the difficult removal of the agent.