US President Donald Trump's alleged intelligence disclosure to Russia has endangered the life of a spy who was placed inside ISIS by Israel, current and former US officials are reported to have affirmed on Wednesday according to ABC News. The spy in question, whose life now hangs on the line after Trump reportedly revealed classified information in a meeting with Russian officials last week, was tracking an ISIS plot to bring down a passenger jet on its way to the US with a bomb hidden in a laptop that US officials think could get through airport screening machines unnoticed, according to ABC. It appears that the information the spy had gathered was sufficient enough in helping US officials consider favorably the much-discussed possible ban on laptops on all flights from Europe to the US. On Tuesday the New York Times reported that Israel is the source of the classified intelligence that Trump disclosed to the Russian officials. Two US officials, one current and one former, said Trump shared the intelligence supplied by Israel in the fight against Islamic State with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak during an Oval Office meeting last Wednesday, which the American press was barred from attending. Russia had earlier dismissed reports first published by The Washington Post, calling it “fake news.” But facing a deluge of criticism over his handling of highly classified information, Trump took to Twitter earlier Tuesday, defending having shared “facts” with senior Russian officials, saying he had an “absolute right” to do so and had been trying to get Moscow to become more active in combating Islamic State.“As president, I wanted to share with Russia (at an openly scheduled W.H. meeting) which I have the absolute right to do, facts pertaining to terrorism and airline flight safety,” he posted on Twitter. “Humanitarian reasons, plus I want Russia to greatly step up their fight against ISIS & terrorism.” cnxps.cmd.push(function () { cnxps({ playerId: '36af7c51-0caf-4741-9824-2c941fc6c17b' }).render('4c4d856e0e6f4e3d808bbc1715e132f6'); });Trump’s acknowledgment that he gave sensitive information during a White House meeting last week undercut intense efforts by senior aides to play down the incident on Monday evening after news reports emerged of Trump’s conversations about a planned Islamic State operation.
Yonah Jeremy Bob and Anna Ahronheim contributed to this report.
White House will not say if Israel was source of sensitive info (credit: REUTERS)
Yonah Jeremy Bob and Anna Ahronheim contributed to this report.
