Reuters alleging President Trump revealed highly classified information to the Russian Ambassador in a facetoface meeting. According to the paper, the information considered so sensiti sensitive, details have been withheld from allies and tightly restricted even within the u. S. Government. The foreign partner had given the u. S. Permission to share the information with russia, and trumps decision to do so reportedly endanger z cooperation from an ally that has access to the inner workings of the Islamic State. Officials told the post trump revealed the city in the islamic States Territory where the intelligence partner detected the threat. The Washington Post is withholding the information at the urging of officials within the Trump Administration who warned it would jep diesz important intelligence capabilities. U. S. Officials said this is code word information, terminology that refers to one of the highest classification levels. White House National security adviser h. R. Mcmaster appeared before the cameras to try and push back on that report. The story that came out tonight as reported is false. The president and the foreign minister reviewed a range of common threats to our two countries including threats to civil aviation. At no time, at no time were intelligence sources or methods discussed, and the president did not disclose any military operations that were not already publicly known. Two other senior officials who were present including the secretary of state remember the meeting the same way and have said so. Theyre on the record account should outweigh those of anonymous services. I was in the room. It didnt happen. Didnt take any more questions. Talked for 60 seconds. Greg miller, the ambassador talked for 60 seconds. The general didnt answer any questions, and even conservatives last night were saying it was the classic nondenial denial, straight out of the annals of watergate. Hes giving a head fake at a men um, saying the president did not reveal sources and meth those. Thats who what our story alleges. But instead what those sources and methods had obtained, had collected, the information that came through those sources and methods. And in all of the statements from the white house last night, none of them could answer why if this was so ordinary and not a big deal, why was it necessary for mcmasters own staff to come out of that meeting, call right away, place calls to the cia director and director of the National Security agency that really is the key. Its like when the white house a couple days ago is pushing back on the story of the Deputy Attorney general. The next day it ended up not being true. Last night they do the same thing, they push out, they put general mcmaster out there. Of course, the information provided will lead back possibly to those first two issues that he actually did bring up. But why did they rush and go to the director of the cia and the head of the nsa and say this very Important Information has been spilled out . Why did they ask you at the Washington Post not to disclose this information because it was so highly sensitive. Again, the denials fall flat in the face of the information that we had last night when your story came out. So it really doesnt add up. It doesnt make sense you call the cia director to give him a headsup that the president had overstepped in a serious ray in a meeting with senior russian officials, calling the nsa director. Those two officials are the ones dealing most directly with this partner. Theyre the ones that would have to deal with this partner to try to keep this intelligence channel open, to try to protect it and try to contain whatever damage was caused by this disclosure. David ignatius, as somebody who covers the Intel Community and has for a long time, can you explain why this is so troubling, even if its one nugget that the president let slip to the Russian Ambassador and foreign minister, why this could be such a problem . The intelligence business works on trust and works on the confidence that intelligence partners have, the information they provide, information often obtained through very risky collection methods, will be properly held, that it will not be disseminated at a whim. An incident like this, even on the h. R. Mcmaster version, that he didnt disclose sources and methods, but trump did share the information is what we infer, has got to be shattering to the people that provided that information on the understanding it would be held in the strictest confidence. The idea that the president would share it in a kind of boisterous way, almost bragging about how much he knew with the Russian Foreign minister and Russian Ambassador adds a particular sharp pinch to this because of all thats happens with russia and trump, to me, willie, this was just one more example of trumps steep learning curve in these areas where he is so inexperienced. Lets put it in context here. The meeting that took place we talked before that most americans were shocked enough that he had a meeting with the Russian Foreign minister and the ambassador for the United States for russia the day after he admitted firing the fbi director for having an investigation against the Trump White House into his dealings with russia. What we find out even worse the next day, he reveals highly Sensitive Information to the russians, boasting, and you compare that meeting with his meeting with Angela Merkel, perhaps our most important ally, doesnt even shake her hand. That meeting with lavrov, actually part of it happened during our show and on live cameras lavrov appeared and he was asked by whoever was in the room. Andrea. Andrea, a about the firing of comey and he scoffed and laughed der rye sively. David ignatius, an unidentified official with the knowledge of the exchange quotes the president saying this, i get great intel. I have people brief me on great intel every day. This is what trump said in his meeting with lavrov when speaking about the top secret information he reportedly divulged. He was boasting, he was flip and they were jock lular. Not only one persons life but a lot of peoples lives, rick tyler. Lets talk about the republican response. You actually saw one last night. Bob corker came out very strongly talking about how this is a white house that was in free fall and even paul ryan came out last night finally and is demanding a full explanation from the white house. Lets listen to bob corker, chairman of the Foreign Affairs committee first. Obviously theyre in a downward spiral right now and have got to figure out a way to come to grips with all thats happening. The chaos that is being created by the lack of discipline is creating an environment that i think makes it creates a worrisome environment. Rick, yesterday we talked on this show about panic inside the white house, about how the president is doing worse than ever before, how hes isolated, hes screaming at television sets, that if he had a condition our an issue during the campaign, people close to him say it is now getting very, very troubling and very worrisomworr. Lets talk two quick examples. Just over the past week he fires the fbi director, he has a communication strategy with his staff, blame it on the Deputy Attorney general. The next day he comes on television and forgets the talking points, lays waste to his entire white house staff, does not remember what he told them yesterday and then here we have the next day a story about him not remembering that youre not supposed to give the most highly classified information to your enemies. This is, again, were hearing this from inside the white house. This is a precedent isolated and out of control and in decline. This is all the worse because under the comey firing, and there was mixed messages coming out. He undermined all the circuits, all his staff. Initially he said it was because of the Deputy Attorney yen. It never stops, says one white house official, basically its ayos at all times. The talking point coming from mcmaster is there was no sources or methods revealed. The fact is the president has compromised seriously methods and sourcing in the Intelligence Community. So in one sense theres this strike back at the Intelligence Community. Notice whats not happening, theres nobody going out in the Republican Party repeating mcmasters talking points. Theyre not going to do that. The reason is because trump could come out at any moment and say, yeah, i told them, and completely undermine what they said. Thats what they did on our show, followed trumps talking points with if Deputy Attorney general and they were made fools on this show, they were made fools the next day. The Vice President made a fool of seven times, lying seven times, just not knowing seven times. Sean spicer, the president made him out to be a liar. Sarah hauckabee sanders, made ot to be a liar. What a terrible position to be in the youre a staff member in that white house being put in that position. Its even more complicated because mcmasters denial wasnt really a denial. It was this incredibly, carefully parsed statement that wove its way through the facts and managed to try to get out alive without mcmaster having lied but without denying that trump did what he did. The question is why did trump do it . Is it because he doesnt have selfcontrol, trying to cozy up to the russians. The answer to all three of those is yes. It also highlights the hypocrisy if you compare it to campaign managing, what he said all during the campaign. Do we have that clip . Willie, you were up cutting this. I was. I handedit everything im a throwback guy. This is the lock her up chant we heard all through the campaign, based on the exposure of classified information with a private server, thats about Hillary Clinton. So the handling of that classified information was one of the attack lines for donald trump during the race. Msnbcs the 11th hour with Brian Williams put together this look back. Bad things came out today, classified. You know the word classified. This was not just extreme carelessness with classified material which is still totally disqualifying. This is calculated, deliberate, premeditated misconduct. The secretary of state was extremely careless and negligent in handling our classified secrets. She lied about passing on classified information, right . In my Administration Im going to enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information. She said she sent nothing marked classified, a total lie. We cant have someone in the oval office who doesnt understand the meaning of the word confidential or classified. Classified information in the reach of our enemies. Classified, confidential. Theyre so classified, theyre beyond classified. Maybe classified at the highest, highest level. How sad. Again, that was talking about Hillary Clinton potentially disclosing classified information. What were talking about in the Washington Post and now several other newspapers, the explicit relaying on classified information with someone who has at the least competing interests. We were worried that the chinese or russians may have hacked Hillary Clintons home server in chappaqua. He went straight to our enemies and adversaries and gave them classified information. He called what hillary did is disfall kauaiing. What about this . This reminds me of what al gore said in march of 1997, there is no Controlling Legal Authority which didnt really work very well for him, but i dont see how they get out of this one and i dont see where this is going to come. This is too clean cut. The republicans i dont think are going to try to defend him on this one. Greg, could you highlight how sensitive the information what . How did the white house implore or ask for you all not to reveal it, and secondly what was the president s tone when he was discussing this . Was it kind of on the side, kind of in a boastful tone, or was it passing something on in a surreptitious way . What did this look like . We characterized in our story he was doing this in a boastful manner. At least he launched into this part of the conversation in a postful way and was bragging about i get the best intel, i have these amazing great briefings every day, you wouldnt believe the stuff i hear. He goes through the discussion and the particulars are highly sensitive. Hes talking about the ways that the Islamic State is putting together this threat, the ways that it is pursuing this plot that has to do with bringing laptops, using laptops as explosives on an airplane. Beyond that he reveals the specific city inside the islamic States Territory where this intelligence was gleaned. So that was the real source of alarm. Then he wraps it up by saying talking about the Counter Measures, the u. S. Military operations under way to suppress this threat, the other Counter Measures including the laptop ban that could be extended and kind of jokes his way out of it saying, can you believe the world we live . 25 years ago you didnt have to worry about this stuff. David ignatius, it makes isis job so much easier to now seek out, track down what the Intel Community has long said is the most extraordinarily valuable asset, and that is a human resource. We were not able to get human intel in iran for years that led to the iranian hostage crisis, our inability to move past that. Time and time again, you hear this is the greatest challenge. Donald trump just gave somebody up out there who will end up dead, and thats not hyperbole, by the way. He and other people, whoever that source was inside of isis, i guarantee you a lot of people are going to get shot in the head today by isis because theyre going to indiscriminately start killing people that they suspect leaked this information. So where does that put donald trump with the Intel Community now when they have this type of information in the future, do they reveal it to the president of the United States . I think thats one of the hardest questions. Your viewers need to understand why this is so serious. This isnt just more criticism of donald trump. This kind of intelligence is what keeps us alive. There are people out there in the world, isis and other groups, who would kill thousands of americans today if they could. The reason we have generally been safe is that we have very aggressive intelligence operating with our closest allies whose secrets we share, to find out the most Sensitive Information, sometimes through human sources, sometimes through very subtle technical collection systems which may have been involved in this case. Those are real secrets because they keep people alive. When the secrets are blown, the people who do the collection have to ask themselves, if i share this with the United States, is it going to end up with this kind of garl laos, inexperienced, undisciplined man in the oval office being retail to some visitor. Thats the issue. Do they stop sharing the information . Our intelligence agencies work for the president. Its hard to imagine them cutting off the flow. Its really the foreign partners who are absolutely crucial in this fight who may say we just cant share as much now with the United States as before. Greg, since you do have obviously a good source in the National Security community who shared with you their concerns about the president leaking this, did he say anything else to the russians thats important for our viewers or for american to hear . Did he, for example, admonish them for interfering in our election as all the intelligence agencies have confirmed . Thats another one of the big issues here. Our story touches on that a bit. There is a lot of frustration within the administration. There are professionals who are deeply knowledgeable about these regions around the world and they take time, they put together pages of preparatoriry material for the president , two to fivepage papers, for instance, were prepared in advance of his meeting with these russian officials. What he was supposed to stick to in terms of a script and what he could expect to hear from them and what their questions were and how to handle those things, the president has insisted all of this material be boiled down to less than a page of bullet points. In this case he just again goes off script. Not dissimilar to how badly he went off script in describing what he had done and why to the fbi director james comey. He didnt raise the russian interference in the president ial election with the foreign minister and the ambassador . I have no indication that that issue came up. I would regard that as highly, highly unlikely. All we no know is the white house official version of what was said in this meeting asserts that trump raised the issue of ukraine and a couple other things. Theres no mention in the official white house account of this conversation of raising what russia did in the election last year. What youre pointing to is one of the fundamentally shocking aspects of this. Revealing classified information to anyone under any circumstances by the commanderinchief would be a big problem. But doing so in this case with russian officials including the Russian Ambassador whose presence in this me