Trump Revealed Classified Information to Russian Foreign Minister - WashPo

[Independent voter]

When Tillerson gets back to Washington DC he's going to throw his notepad at Trump.

[schwarzkopf]

I think of it more as him being unfit to handle classified information, but to each their own.

He is pretty much unfit to exist ... but I agree. I've made the point earlier in this thread that what he did wasn't illegal even in the sense of after he leaves office.

My response was to him shooting someone, not him declassifying documents.

[alexw]

The burden of proof is back on the post. Just because you hate Trump doesn't mean everyone is lying to defend him. Leave the conspiracy theories out.

Yeah but you are lying to defend him.

[DeadmanWalking]

Trumps the Commander and Chief. He can do what he wants in terms of deciding how he wants to proceed with classified data. Especially when the Islamic state is involved. Russia is fighting against the spread of Islam near its borders so who knows if this information will help them fight terrorist threats.

Trump didn't do it to encourage a fight against the islamic state, he did it for no reason other than he wanted to brag. Lets not shine a shit and call it a turtle, there was no geopolitical manuver going on here, this was simply Trump not thinking beyond showing these lower Russian statesmen how cool it was to be Trump. He royally fucked up. This is stupidity of the highest order, so high it resets the bar on how high stupid can go.

[Bullettime]

Trumps the Commander and Chief. He can do what he wants in terms of deciding how he wants to proceed with classified data. Especially when the Islamic state is involved. Russia is fighting against the spread of Islam near its borders so who knows if this information will help them fight terrorist threats.

There's still a process involved and there's shit outcomes whether or not he followed them.

Russia is still classed as a foreign adversary and the intel technically wasn't ours to give out and was only shared with US intelligence out of good faith. Him leaking it at all, whether he declassified it or not or had the authority to, still kills trust in the US to be given sensitive information. And if he didn't follow the process, he leaked classified information to an adversary.

[alexw]

This is what McMaster said:

"At no time were intelligence sources or methods discussed and the President did not disclose any military operations that weren't already publicly known," he said. "I was in the room. It didn't happen."

Yes so the source the info was not discussed nor the method it was acquired by. So basically he is confirming that extremely sensitive top secret info was discussed but Trump just didn't mention the source or how the source acquired that information.

[Zeek Daniels]

Lol. Yes, God-Emperor Trump can do whatever he wants.

I hope Trump is tried for treason and sentenced to life in prison, and that his rabid supporters are forbidden from breeding.

Tell me who has the power to divulge that kind of information if not the president. HE makes those top level decisions. Not You. He has that power. You may disagree with what he did. I disagree with what he did. I dont not however live in a fantasy world were i believe he doesnt have the authority to do so. Keep whining everytime trump makes a presidential decision.

[schwarzkopf]

Yes so the source the info was not discussed nor the method it was acquired by. So basically he is confirming that extremely sensitive top secret info was discussed but Trump just didn't mention the source or how the source acquired that information.

Indeed, it wasn't an outright denial - which is something they could have easily done.

[Jastall]

The election was the revolution. I've said months ago that nothing he could ever do as president would ever come close to winning the presidency under the conditions that he did.

The only commitment I had was for him to win. After that? It's his job to run the country. If he doesn't want to do that job he can piss off.

I'm not sure how his election was a ''revolution''. He skillfully seized an opportunity, I'll grant you that. But he didn't change anything in any sort of permanent fashion. All the old electoral institutions are still there and are highly likely to outlive his presidency (and pretty much guaranteed if he burns himself out so fast). If anything Macron's election smells more like a revolution, being the first person to be elected outside of the two great parties since WW2, and even then I wouldn't call it a Revolution with a big R myself.

Trump was an anomaly, but I'd hardly call his election a revolution. He campaigned on grounds fairly familiar to populists and hammered home a simple yet effective message to a key electorate, which handed him a victory thanks to the quirks in the US's electoral system. In hindsight this shouldn't have been too surprising, Trump is obviously a great salesman, and an electoral campaign is not so different from a marketing one.

If he manages to get re-elected after all the shit slung at him, and change political institutions in a lasting way? Then I'll be more inclined to share your assessment. But both of these things seem increasingly unlikely, albeit anything can still happen. But as much as Trump is a good salesman, he must now deliver on his pitch, and nothing I've seen so far has convinced me that he's anything but a mediocre or bad statesman.

[Bullettime]

Tell me who has the power to divulge that kind of information if not the president. HE makes those top level decisions. Not You. He has that power. You may disagree with what he did. I disagree with what he did. I dont not however live in a fantasy world were i believe he doesnt have the authority to do so. Keep whining everytime trump makes a presidential decision.

Trump may actually have not had the authority to declassify the intel if it was shared with US intelligence in confidence from a foreign ally's intelligence gathering.

[JohnBrown1917]

Tell me who has the power to divulge that kind of information if not the president. HE makes those top level decisions. Not You. He has that power. You may disagree with what he did. I disagree with what he did. I dont not however live in a fantasy world were i believe he doesnt have the authority to do so. Keep whining everytime trump makes a presidential decision.

Good luck with allies losing trust in the US

[schwarzkopf]

Tell me who has the power to divulge that kind of information if not the president.

Having the power to do something doesn't make it legal to do it. A man with a gun has the POWER to kill you, doesn't give him the legal right to do it.

However, I do agree with the point you were trying to make even though you made it poorly.

[DeadmanWalking]

Herres the thing, Congress can decide something is impeachable. When Clinton got in trouble they did several votes to see if he was impeachable for a cover up, impeachable for having an affair and impeachable for lying under oath. He was not impeached for an affair, because Congress decided fucking other women in the white house was not impeachable. They can decide that Trump is too stupid to be president and impeach him just for bragging with high end classified information to show everyone in the room just how cool it is to be president.

"I get the best intelligence, you wouldn't believe how great the intelligence I get is, (rattles off classified intelligence to prove it)<- stupid of the highest order.

[Seezer]

Let me know when it's illegal.

Just because it's not illegal doesn't mean it doesn't put the country in danger. He could declassify everything the US has and send it to Russia. Sure, he technically isn't breaking the law, but that doesn't mean it's not disastrous for the country. Don't pretend that if this were Hillary instead of Trump Trump supporters would be losing their shit. Calling her a traitor, chanting "LOCK HER UP! LOCK HER UP!".

Trump supporters would defend him regardless of what he did. He could have a press conference saying "I donald trump sold US classified information to Russia for profit" and his supporters would defend it. It's gotten that weird and pathetic.

[schwarzkopf]

because Congress decided fucking other women in the white house was not impeachable.

All impeachment does is remove him as president and open him up to any criminal charges. Nixon left before the impeachment, so that in effect - the trial didn't complete and he didn't end up being executed for treason etc.

[Kujako]

Herres the thing, Congress can decide something is impeachable. When Clinton got in trouble they did several votes to see if he was impeachable for a cover up, impeachable for having an affair and impeachable for lying under oath. He was not impeached for an affair, because Congress decided fucking other women in the white house was not impeachable. They can decide that Trump is too stupid to be president and impeach him just for bragging with high end classified information to show everyone in the room just how cool it is to be president.

"I get the best intelligence, you wouldn't believe how great the intelligence I get is, (rattles off classified intelligence to prove it)<- stupid of the highest order.

Firs thing that would need to happen is for Paul Ryan to draft the articles of impeachment. He won't. So nothing will happen till after the midterm elections at least, and then it would take two to four years to actually successfully impeach Trump. Which means half way into his second term it might happen. There is a reason it's more or less never happened in US history.

[DeadmanWalking]

All impeachment does is remove him as president and open him up to any criminal charges. Nixon left before the impeachment, so that in effect - the trial didn't complete and he didn't end up being executed for treason etc.

He was pardoned by ford for any and all possible Crimes, thats why he wasnt in trouble afterwards.

[Toppy]

People really need to remember that the POTUS is not a god and cannot do whatever they feel whenever they feel. They are beholden to certain rules and regulations.

[Garnier Fructis]

Will Trump ever stop giving early Christmas presents to his opponents? My god.

I just wish he would do so in a manner that didn't annihilate our credibility along with his own. But I guess this is like the difference between getting an XBOne and a PS4.

[Bullettime]

Just because it's not illegal doesn't mean it doesn't put the country in danger. He could declassify everything the US has and send it to Russia. Sure, he technically isn't breaking the law, but that doesn't mean it's not disastrous for the country. Don't pretend that if this were Hillary instead of Trump Trump supporters would be losing their shit. Calling her a traitor, chanting "LOCK HER UP! LOCK HER UP!".

There's also a process that has to be followed and not all intelligence can be declassified by the president; Only anything gathered by our own intelligence sources.

There's no possible way, without extreme mental gymnastics, to spin this as good. All possible outcomes, whether he had the authority and followed the steps for declassification or not, are terrible. He literally spit in the eye of all of our allies so he could brag to an adversary about how awesome his job is.