Trump Made No 'Classified' Leak, Someone Else Did

White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster just emerged from the White House to declare that The Washington Post's story about Trump giving highly classified information to Russian Federation "as reported, is false".

The newspaper cited current and former U.S. officials said Mr Trump had divulged information provided by an ally through an intelligence-sharing arrangement, which was considered so sensitive that details have been withheld from allies and tightly restricted even within the American government.

Labour leader Andrew Little says reports US President Donald Trump shared high-level intelligence with Russia's Foreign Minister would be concerning if they were verified and the NZ Government had to decide if the US could be trusted.

He said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Dina Powell, deputy national security adviser for strategy, remember the meeting the same way.

"It never stops", one White House official said via text message last night to Politico. Corker told Bloomberg News that the White House was "in a downward spiral right now and they've got to figure out a way to come to grips with all that's happening".

For close watchers of President Trump's relationship with the intelligence community in the United States, his disregard for the contributions of our partners, the years of work developing sources and the time spent building trust among allies may not surprising. "It's totally self-inflicted. Every time I feel like we're getting a handle on the last Russian Federation fiasco, a new one pops", a White House staffer said.

Mr McMaster dismissed claims Mr Trump had relayed sensitive information to the Russians from a foreign intelligence agency - a move that allegedly put cooperation with a partner "that has access to the inner workings of Isis". However, they also said that the president has wide authority to reveal classified intelligence, which make the commander-in-chief virtually immune from prosecution.

Turnbull declined to comment specifically on the report, but said during an interview Tuesday with Adelaide radio station 5AA that he is confident in the Australia-U.S. alliance.

McMaster says: "I was in the room.it didn't happen".

While the president has the authority to disclose even the most highly classified information at will, in this case he did so without consulting the ally that provided it, which threatens to jeopardize what they called a long-standing intelligence-sharing agreement, the U.S. officials said. However, The Post story and other subsequent reports didn't say that it was sources, methods or military operations discussed, but simply classified information. Still, it will only heighten Trump's strained relations with intelligence workers and former officials, who view Russian Federation as an adversary.

The latest incident also highlights the ongoing turmoil within the Trump administration, which has experienced a steady progression of crises since Trump was inaugurated.

"Even if President Trump unwittingly blew a highly classified code-word source to the Russians, that would be unsafe enough".

"We have no way to know what was said, but protecting our nation's secrets is paramount".

Editor's note: Jen Psaki, a CNN political commentator and spring fellow at the Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service, served as the White House communications director and State Department spokeswoman during the Obama administration.

This is now the third time in a short period that the president's most secret and private discussions with a world leader have been leaked to The Washington Post.

Even though the president's actions may not be illegal, he said that "no one is above the rule of law in this country".

'If the report is true, it is very disturbing.

The White House has been engulfed by fresh chaos over allegations Donald Trump revealed classified information to Russian officials, sparking freaky scenes as aides reportedly turned up televisions to drown out shouting between top aides.