WAPO: Trump shared highly classified intel to Russians in Oval Office

[Dill]

(05-16-2017, 04:08 PM)hollodero Wrote: Oh sure, legally. He is "allowed" then. US law and everything.
If I'm head of a foreign intelligence, share highly sensitive information in good faith and trusting - and see said information being spouted out by your president, I might have very little consideration for the lawfulness of that act in the US. If any, that this line of argumentation is brought up and made clear would be one additional reason to not provide the US with information any longer.

When I said "not allowed", then I didn't talk US law, but diplomatic boundaries that were breached, probably in the form of a broken agreement/promise.

Benton is right. Trump can, in the middle of a conversation, divulge classified information to an adversary, if the adversary seems really chummy and likes Trump.

And of course, our own intel and foreign intel services will now pull back, weigh carefully what they say to him. The leader of the free world is undsciplined and incompetent.  Professional Republican politicians see this, but I don't see any reason to believe Trumpsters view this as anything more than more fake news. "No reporter was in the room so they don't know; the leaks are the problem." "Trump always has the interests of the US in mind." etc. People in foreign intel services are not Trumpsters, however; they see he is not learning as he goes along.

In front of the cameras, US, Russian and Israeli officials will say this is no big deal. Israel will downplay it, even if some sources now have their throats cut. "The US is still our firmest ally!"  Spicer has already it is impossible that Trump could have revealed the source of the info because he himself did not know (I Know. unbelievable ).


We do have the alternatives of censure and impeachment. But as I said earlier, that requires Republican support and that support is dependent upon Republican voters, still currently watching Fox. The biggest checks on presidency--Congress and the people--are not in motion yet. But I think that is coming. 

Hollo,  couple weeks back I warned you that this week we would not be talking about the wiretapping tweet, but a wholly new unnecessary scandal. That turned out to be the Comey firing. Before that could get real traction, Trump made it about himself with the crazy obstruction tweet warning Comey to shut up.  Now this intel scandal has hit and we are no longer talking about any that stuff.

So here I am again reminding you that next week's unprecedented and totally unnecessary scandal will bring us a step closer to Congressional action. The only thing that could overshadow next week's scandal is a foreign policy incident or a terrorist attack at home.  In which case, the first scandal in June bring us back to the chaos of the White House. The steam necessary for impeachment will keep building.

While I am predicting, I might as well add that in the next week or two I am sure that we are going to see some high up staffers go, and maybe Spicer too. I think Bannon and Priebus could be demoted or fired.