The Washington Post claims Donald Trump revealed classified information to Russian officials last week

  The Washington Post is reporting that one day after firing James Comey, in a White House meeting with Russian officials, Donald Trump shared highly classified information with the Russians.

  Here is more:

President Trump revealed highly classified information to the Russian foreign minister and ambassador in a White House meeting last week, according to current and former U.S. officials, who said Trump’s disclosures jeopardized a critical source of intelligence on the Islamic State.

The information the president relayed had been provided by a U.S. partner through an intelligence-sharing arrangement considered so sensitive that details have been withheld from allies and tightly restricted even within the U.S. government, officials said.

The partner had not given the United States permission to share the material with Russia, and officials said Trump’s decision to do so endangers cooperation from an ally that has access to the inner workings of the Islamic State. After Trump’s meeting, senior White House officials took steps to contain the damage, placing calls to the CIA and the National Security Agency.

  I think that it is safe to say the left will not accept the Hillary Clinton/Huma Abedin defense that this was not gross negligence but rather extreme carelessness without intending to mishandle the information. But that does not really matter because, as the article linked to above eventually states, the President has the authority to declassify information.

For almost anyone in government, discussing such matters with an adversary would be illegal. As president, Trump has broad authority to declassify government secrets, making it unlikely that his disclosures broke the law.

Here is Donald Trump’s defense:

“The president and the foreign minister reviewed common threats from terrorist organizations to include threats to aviation,” said H.R. McMaster, the national security adviser, who participated in the meeting. “At no time were any intelligence sources or methods discussed, and no military operations were disclosed that were not already known publicly.”

  This is sure to add fuel to the fire over the Russia scandal; although no law was broken  it could cast questions on his judgment and it does not help that this information has not even been shared with our allies. I think what is most troubling to me however, if this story is true, is that Donald Trump revealed the city where the undercover operative was located, possibly putting that person at risk.

malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium