Deep State Illegally Leaks Classified Info To Media To Demonize Trump For Legally Disclosing Classified Info

Chris Menahan
InformationLiberation
May. 16, 2017

In the latest act of open deep state sabotage to undermine the Trump administration, deep state operatives leaked classified information divulged by Trump in a private White House meeting to The Washington Post and The New York Times.

The meeting involved Russian foreign minister Sergey V. Lavrov, Russian ambassador Sergey I. Kislyak, Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and other unnamed "Americans."

From The New York Times:

The intelligence disclosed by Mr. Trump ... was about an Islamic State plot, according to the officials. A Middle Eastern ally that closely guards its own secrets provided the information, which was considered so sensitive that American officials did not share it widely within the United States government or pass it on to other allies.

Mr. Trump’s disclosure does not appear to have been illegal — the president has the power to declassify almost anything. But sharing the information without the express permission of the ally who provided it was a major breach of espionage etiquette, and could jeopardize a crucial intelligence-sharing relationship.

In fact, the ally has repeatedly warned American officials that it would cut off access to such sensitive information if it were shared too widely, the former official said. In this case, the fear is that Russia will be able to determine exactly how the information was collected and could disrupt the ally’s espionage efforts.

Saying "Mr. Trump's disclosure does not appear to have been illegal" means: "it was not illegal, but we're going to word it in a way that makes it seem like it could be."

The Washington Post said Trump discussed "details of an Islamic State terrorist threat related to the use of laptop computers on aircraft."

Back in March, the threat of terrorists hiding bombs in electronic devices triggered the US and the UK to ban a host of electronics from being carried in cabins on flights from several Middle-Eastern countries.

As The Washington Post reported at the time:

The U.S. restrictions were prompted by a growing concern within the government that terrorists who have long sought to develop hard-to-detect bombs hidden inside electronic devices may have put renewed effort into that work, according to people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about it. U.S. officials have been discussing whether to issue new security restrictions for some flights for the past two weeks, they said.

Officials have said that in 2014, U.S. authorities were increasingly worried that suspected bombmaker Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, who was allegedly instrumental to al-Qaeda’s Yemen branch in several bomb plots, might be helping terrorists in Syria develop new, harder-to-detect explosive devices.

NBC News' chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel said US intelligence officials told him what Trump divulged wasn't anything the Russians "didn't already know."

Us intel official tells me trump told russians about laptop airline threat. Told it wasnt anything they didnt already know. @washingtonpost
Ñ Richard Engel (@RichardEngel) May 16, 2017

Us intell official says trump was trying to show russians "how cooperative he wants to be with them" in fight against isis. @washingtonpost
— Richard Engel (@RichardEngel) May 16, 2017

Us intel official says Trump talked abt isis interest in laptops, which is why laptops of such concern these days. Says not new info
— Richard Engel (@RichardEngel) May 16, 2017

Regardless, legally divulging such information to Russia is only scandalous if you believe the deep-state-media-complex lie that Russia is not our ally in the fight against ISIS.

In reality, Russia is the number one nation fighting to destroy ISIS, and it's the US and our insane neocon foreign policy which is working to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and create another vacuum where ISIS can thrive.

In the world of the deep-state-media-complex where "Russia is the greatest threat of any nation on earth," divulging such classified information is being spun as high treason.

Note, when Trump attacked Syria and did as the deep-state-media-complex wanted, they went silent on the whole "Russian conspiracy" narrative for weeks and started praising Trump.

As soon as he fired FBI Director James Comey and signaled he was going to reshape his entire administration, including by firing H.R. McMaster, they revived the whole Russia narrative overnight and now we have this latest manufactured scandal.

The crux of this manufactured scandal is that we're supposed to be outraged Trump shared a small amount of classified intelligence with the US's number one ally in the fight against ISIS, but we're not supposed to care the deep state is openly leaking classified intelligence to the lying media in order to sabotage his presidency.

As reports were indicating neocon Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster was on the chopping block and about to be fired by Trump, I'd say he's the number one suspect.

Related: How The Washington Post, Not Trump, Jeopardized Our National Security

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