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Trump Meeting With Russians Spurs Call for Transcripts

Senate Democrats have requested the White House provide congressional intelligence committees with transcripts of a meeting at the White House last week when President Donald Trump reportedly disclosed classified information to two Russian officials.

WASHINGTON (CN) - Senate Democrats have requested the White House provide congressional intelligence committees with transcripts of a meeting at the White House last week when President Donald Trump reportedly disclosed classified information to two Russian officials.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he and his fellow Democrats have "directly communicated" their request to the White House, but have not yet heard back.

The request comes the day after the Washington Post reported Trump described sensitive information from a U.S. ally to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak at a meeting at the White House on May 10.

"The president should make full, unedited transcripts available immediately, no ifs, no ands, no buts," Schumer told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday.  "The president may have put national security and our intelligence operations at risk, Congress has the right to know about it."

The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Israel was the source of the information, which reportedly detailed an ISIS terror plot that involved using laptop computers on planes, and that it did not give permission to share the intelligence.

The reports have set off another firestorm in Congress, with Democrats threatening to hold up legislation and other matters until they receive more information on the news. While the White House has partially denied the report, saying Trump did not discuss "intelligence sources or methods" at the meeting lawmakers are concerned that Russian intelligence could piece together some of the information Trump allegedly delivered to jeopardize the source.

Schumer said seeing the transcripts and having the opportunity to analyze them would help determine whether those concerns are justified.

While Republicans have been, with few exceptions, unwilling to call for a special prosecutor or independent investigation into the Trump campaign's ties to the Russian government in the wake of Trump's decision to fire former FBI Director James Comey, some have joined Democrats' desire for the transcripts of Trump's meeting with Lavrov and Kislyak.

Rep. Mike Gallagher, a Wisconsin Republican, said on Twitter on Tuesday the White House should share the transcripts with the House and Senate Intelligence Committees "for the purpose of transparency."

"Our allies and partners must have the utmost confidence that sensitive information they share with us will not be disclosed," Gallagher tweeted on Tuesday.

Senators are set to have a meeting on Thursday with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, where they are expected to ask about Trump's decision to fire Comey and the memo Rosenstein wrote to justify the president's move.

Categories / Government, National, Politics

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