The Senate Intelligence Committee wants more information on President Donald Trump’s reported disclosure of classified information to Russians, U.S. Sen. Richard Burr’s office said Tuesday.
Burr, a North Carolina Republican, is chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
“The Senate Intelligence Committee has reached out to the White House to request additional information on recent reports about alleged dissemination of intelligence information,” Burr’s communications director Becca Glover Watkins said in a statement.
The Washington Post reported Monday that Trump revealed classified information about the Islamic State to Russian diplomats during their visit to the Oval Office last week.
Trump appeared to confirm the report Tuesday morning on Twitter. Trump tweeted that he shared with Russia “facts pertaining to terrorism and airline safety.”
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina also called for more information.
“Members of Congress should be provided with more information from the administration about the recent report,” he said in a statement.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Trump “shared informaton on a common threat.”
The Washington Post report, later confirmed by other news organizations, reverberated through Washington. Lawmakers from both parties said they wanted more details. Democrats went a step further, calling Trump’s actions dangerous.
U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, a Wilson Democrat, called Trump’s disclosure of classified information “the latest in a pattern of reckless ineptitude from the White House that puts our national security and our ability to work with our allies at risk.”
U.S. Rep. David Price, a Chapel Hill Democrat, said Trump is undermining efforts to destroy ISIS.
“Whatever President Trump’s motivation for leaking intelligence to the Russians, his actions threaten the safety of members of the U.S. intelligence community, the lives of foreign intelligence assets, and our relationships with key allies. Such actions undermine the international community’s efforts to degrade and destroy ISIS,” Price said in a statement. “We are clearly in uncharted territory — the President has no respect for longstanding diplomatic norms or the grave responsibilities of his office, and his Administration is regularly misleading the American people. It’s time for my Republican colleagues to join Democrats in holding President Trump accountable for his actions. A good place to start would be an independent investigation into the troubling allegations of collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russian officials.”
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