President Trump revealed information to Russian diplomats that was “wholly appropriate” but he didn’t know who the source of the intelligence was or where it came from, national security adviser H.R. McMaster said.
“I should just maybe make this statement here that the president wasn’t even aware of where this information came from, he wasn’t briefed on the source and method of the information either,” McMaster said at a White House briefing.
McMaster told reporters that Trump told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak some information that was appropriate in the context of the conversation about terrorism. But McMaster refused to say whether the information the president shared was classified.
He also refused to confirm or deny that Trump told the Russians the city where the source of the intelligence was from, but said it wouldn’t be hard to figure out where the source is based on “open source reporting.”
McMaster said on Monday that the Washington Post report that blew the lid off the situation was false, but confirmed information was shared between Trump and the Russians Tuesday. He instead downplayed the significance of the report.
“It’s wholly appropriate for the president to share whatever information he thinks is appropriate,” McMaster said.
