Donald Trump gave state secrets to Russia, shock report claims

US president Donald Trump revealed highly classified intelligence material to Russian officials during a meeting at the White House last week, reports The Washington Post.

Trump met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak in the Oval Office where he reportedly disclosed information relating to Islamic State and potentially jeopardised a source of intelligence relating to the terror group.

Current and former US officials confirmed the story to the Post, saying Trump went off-script during the meeting and started discussing details about an IS threat related to the use of laptop computers on aircraft.

While disclosing classified information is illegal, the president has broad-ranging powers that allow them to declassify information when they see fit. This means it is unlikely Trump broke the law if he did indeed reveal intelligence information to Russia.

The news comes less than a week after Trump fired FBI director James Comey, who was leading the agency’s investigation into possible links between Trump’s presidential campaign and Moscow.

While the reports could be damaging to the White House, Trump’s national security adviser HR McMaster, who was at the meeting, told the Post no intelligence sources or methods were discussed that were not already known publicly.

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