Vocal Voices

Published in the Washington Post...........................

President Trump revealed highly classified information to the Russian foreign minister and ambassador in a White House meeting last week, according to current and former U.S. officials, who said Trump’s disclosures jeopardized a critical source of intelligence on the Islamic State.

The information the president relayed had been provided by a U.S. partner through an intelligence-sharing arrangement considered so sensitive that details have been withheld from allies and tightly restricted even within the U.S. government, officials said.

The partner had not given the United States permission to share the material with Russia, and officials said Trump’s decision to do so endangers cooperation from an ally that has access to the inner workings of the Islamic State. After Trump’s meeting, senior White House officials took steps to contain the damage, placing calls to the CIA and the National Security Agency.

“This is code-word information,” said a U.S. official familiar with the matter, using terminology that refers to one of the highest classification levels used by American spy agencies. Trump “revealed more information to the Russian ambassador than we have shared with our own allies.”

Hmmm, yes, it was reported by a paper. Yet all the officials who were there have stated that the reported news is incorrect...

Without a whilsteblower there will be no further action..

Apparently as CofS he can declassify anything at any time....

It puts the security of the US in jeopardy though, which foreign security service is going to want to exchange information in the future?

Quite so! And I wonder which country's info he blabbed. They especially won't want much to do with him again.

I would be concerned that this "breach of information", if that is what has happened, actually endangers individuals' lives.

I think impeachment must be getting closer, surely .....

TheOstrich wrote:I think impeachment must be getting closer, surely .....

Given that all members of the meeting are stating that nothing of the sort happened, I'd say impeachment is incredibly unlikely. Even if he did, it is his job to decide if this information is to be shared or not.

What is of more concern, in reality, is that the president might wind up not in full possession of the facts as his own intelligence agencies cut him out of the loop. Again, if what is accused, by a newspaper, without corroborating statements from one of the people present at the meeting; is true..

Oh I don't know. We have just been watching CNN news for the past hour. Things are gradually closing in on Trump.

In short, they don't have the votes and the Republicans will never vote to impeach their own president.

If they were to lose control of the Senate in 18 months it might change, but right now, very unlikely. If you remember Clinton survived an impeachment vote, for perjury and obstruction of justice. In relative terms, Trump has done nothing like that, in fact he hasn't done anything he actually isn't allowed to do apart from his own personal companies and finances and, even then, the law is open to interpretation.

The Democratic press may go on and on about an impeachment but unless they win control of both the house and the senate (currently Republican), then they're never going to win the vote. In fact it would be very unlikely for the house to pass an impeachment vote.

The Democratic leaning press has been on this one since it ever looked like Trump was going to win. They can talk all the want, I simply can't see it.

Several important Republicans have spoken against Trump on TV now. It could happen you know.

It could, yes. But threats and action are two different things. Only the republicans who have just been voted in for the next 6 years dare speak as they are safe from the scrutiny of the public until after the next Presidential election.

Those who are up for election in 18 months and the next presidential election, respectively, are relatively silent. Trump had strong groundswell support in every republican area and those senators are well aware of it. They need it to get elected again.

Personally I think the whole thing with sacking FBI director Comey is more likely to lead to impeachment as it has strong legal implications which is solid evidence they can present to the public..