BuzzFeed confirms the WA Post story. Official says, "It's far worse than what has been reported."

[pnwmom]

And note that the sources in this story are current US officials.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/jimdalrympleii/trump-highly-classified-information-russians?utm_term=.qn2b0wQLxx#.tyBw7dEv88

President Trump revealed highly classified information to Russian officials during a meeting last week at the White House, two US officials confirmed Monday to BuzzFeed News.

The meeting included Russia's ambassador, Sergei Kislyak, and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The disclosures were first reported by the Washington Post, which cited current and former US officials who said the information was considered so sensitive that some details had been withheld from American allies and was restricted within the US government.

Two US officials who were briefed on Trump’s disclosures last week confirmed to BuzzFeed News the veracity of the Washington Post report, with one noting that “it’s far worse than what has already been reported.”

At least one member of the Senate Intelligence Committee was also briefed on Trump’s disclosures, an intelligence committee staffer said. Sen. Mark Warner, the ranking Democrat on the committee, was not briefed, according to his office. Other members of the committee also said they did not receive a briefing.

SNIP

[trof]

1. Should we be surprised?

He doesn't know.

[lindysalsagal]

3. I'm certainly not. The asshat has no effing clue.

[DK504]

20. He doesn't care.

He doesn't know, he doesn't want to know and he doesn't care.

"Lock Him Up!"

[Orrex]

23. I am, as a matter of fact.

I'm surprised that it took him this long. I figured that Putin would have the nuclear codes by 4:00PM on January 20th.

[laserhaas]

2. New York Times..link

WOW.. beyond surreal

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/05/15/us/politics/trump-russia-classified-information-isis.html?referer=https://t.co/pFQPqzZyQ0

[pnwmom]

5. Thank you!

[ThoughtCriminal]

4. Trump better hope it is not on tape

good thing nobody knows about those tapes right?

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. What, tapes that a TASS reporter might have?

Trump may not just be blackmailable by the Russian Foreign Minister and Ambassador, he may be blackmailable by some schlub from a St. Petersburg suburb who thought he was a routine foreign assignment ...

[muriel_volestrangler]

24. Knowledgeable blogger suggests leak was done to inoculate against blackmail

Adam Silverman is former military, who comments on security at the Balloon Juice blog (I think that was his specialty).

What I think happened with this leak to The Washington Post, and what I think people need to understand about it, is that this was leaked to the press, with heavy caveats and conditions to not make the disclosure worse, in order to prevent the President, or anyone else in the room with him, from being blackmailed by the Russians over this. The Russians have their own notes. Because they were allowed to bring a team from TASS with them as part of their delegation, and the TASS staffers brought their equipment, there is no way to be sure that the Russians don’t have recordings. My guess is that once it because clear to the IC folks in the know on this information that TASS had been there with their equipment and taken pictures, because the Russians released the pictures, a decision was made to try to mitigate the damage by leaking to the press ahead of the Russians. The leak is itself intended to inoculate and immunize the President and everyone else from the US side that was in the room so the Russians cannot hold this over their heads. Full stop.

https://www.balloon-juice.com/2017/05/15/monday-late-evening-open-thread/

[lindysalsagal]

25. This gives fRump too much credit. He's not smart enough to think this far.

Maybe an an official of ours leaked because there was some strategy, but fRump is just an idiot. There's your full stop.

[muriel_volestrangler]

26. I don't think he's suggesting Trump thought of it - McMaster, or someone in the CIA

when they heard what had happened - something like that. We know that someone was rushing to limit damage inside the White House - from the WP article:

One of Bossert’s subordinates also called for the problematic portion of Trump’s discussion to be stricken from internal memos and for the full transcript to be limited to a small circle of recipients, efforts to prevent sensitive details from being disseminated further or leaked.

[PsychoBabble]

6. Maybe THIS will be the piece that starts to crack the GOP wall in Congress ...

such egregious, traitor-level raw incompetence, that even THEY cannot ignore it, when piled on top of everything else.

Good lord, not a day goes by without adding to the misery of his sorry-ass "Presidency."

[elmac]

21. No, most are bankster puppets

and those banksters are in line with Putin. They want democracy to crash and burn, to be replaced with unfettered capitalism. That is why US industrialists.banksters pored money into the Brexit fight.

[Amaryllis]

8. Anyone know who leaked or how they knew this happened?

[pnwmom]

10. Patriots who put country over party. n/t

[Amaryllis]

11. of course, but were they in the room with him? I thought it was just him, the Russians, and the

Russian photographer.

[pnwmom]

12. They didn't have to be. What was said to have happened is that people who knew

what he said (probably because they were there, or else because he told them) were so concerned that they went to the CIA and other intelligence people for damage control.

At that point some "US officials" started leaking to the press.

[Initech]

9. May these traitorous scumbags go down in flames.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

13. tRump revealed city in which the intell was obtained. Big clue for adversaries, Hezbollah, Iran. nt

[Bernardo de La Paz]

14. tRump either massive doofus for leaking to RUSSIA of all countries OR it was on PURPOSE. . . nt

[bresue]

15. COULD THE SENATOR BE ORRIN HATCH?

Isn't he the one that is up next?

[pnwmom]

16. He's not on Intelligence. n/t

[zentrum]

17. It comes from the same bragging

...impulse that had him spouting off about what he can do to women "because he's a star". As in: I have the best intel. I'm the biggest star.

[pnwmom]

18. Yup. And this was completely predictable. n/t

[Shoonra]

19. We know what the Republicans would say if a Dem President was even barely polite to Russians ....

This has become extremely serious. Trump is no longer merely talking to Putin on the phone or tweeting, he is inviting a multitude of high ranking Russians right into the Oval Office, and without any US witnesses to keep an eye on them. And it's not as if we're all buddy-buddy; Russia is still playing for the opposing side in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East, it's covering for North Korea, and its planes are buzzing our borders and buzzing our bases elsewhere.

It would appear that Trump is showing his cards to the Russians, yet concealing them from his own consultants and advisors in Washington.

If a Democratic President did this, even once, the Republican Congress would already have articles of impeachment drawn up.

[UTUSN]

22. Well, I wish/I like, but visions of calendar/working-days dance in my longing...