Top Secret

Apparently, President Donald Trump allegedly is more willing to give information to the Russians than the American people. It has been reported that Trump shared classified information with the Russian foreign minister and the Russian ambassador to the US during a White House meeting last week. It reminds me of the old Beatles' song Do You Want to Know a Secret?

After the Washington Post broke the story, National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster refuted that Trump divulged any sources or methods. His statement does not deny that the president shared confidential information with the Russians. In fact, Trump has since admitted in a Tweet to giving information to the Russian representatives. 

Intelligence experts, including former CIA Director and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, have stated that the source may, in fact, have been compromised. If not directly, indirectly. It is also a certainty that the information will now be passed to Russian allies Syria and Iran. 

The meeting between Trump and the Russians had been requested by Putin and was behind closed doors with no US press access. The meeting came to light when a Russian photographer, who was allowed access, published the pictures in the Russian media. So, it was a closed-door meeting at the request of Putin, one day after Comey's firing for investigating Russian connections to the Trump campaign, and sensitive information was given to the Russians. Whether right or wrong, the optics of this situation are absolutely horrible. Another faux pas by Trump is that he did not bring up the topic of Russian meddling with our presidential campaign. A lost opportunity. 

This is the same president who won't share his tax returns with the American public, won't say yes or no about recording in the White House, changes stories about the Comey firing, and disseminates "alternative" and changing "facts" about almost every situation. 

We may never know whether the information shared with the Russians will cause problems for us or the sources in the future. The point is that Trump didn't know that either prior to blabbing. Trump may have the right to disclose the information he did. That does not mean it was right to do so.  

Electing an inexperienced, unqualified, and unprepared person to the presidency has consequences. 

-30-