Less than four months into his term, Trump was bragging to Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov and Ambassador Kislyak during their Oval Office visit about the quality of the briefings he was receiving, and as proof offered details about a secret Israeli intelligence operation into Syria.
Israeli intelligence officials were pissed upon learning of the leak because, given Russia’s close ties to Iran and Syria, they had to assume that their local source for the information had been compromised and possibly killed, according to Israeli press accounts at the time.
The May 10, 2017, White House meeting was covered by Russian media, but not American media, and began with Trump telling Lavrov and Kislayak that he had just fired FBI Director James Comey over the agency’s investigation into his contacts with their country ahead of his 2016 election. An administration official said that Trump “revealed more information to the Russian ambassador than we have shared with our own allies.”
The information had come via Israeli intelligence agencies through a source who had infiltrated an ISIS cell in Syria and which had been confirmed thanks to electronic eavesdropping equipment planted in a daring
nighttime mission by Israeli commandos.
Trump revealed this to the Russians, including the Syrian city in which the operation took place, as part of his boasts.
The generals and other military leaders who served under Trump—those in a position to know—have repeatedly said he made our country less safe, not more.”
But U.S. intelligence officials just before Trump’s inauguration in January 2017 warned their Israeli colleagues that they may want to be careful about what intelligence they chose to share in the coming administration, given Trump’s fondness for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and Russia’s ties to Iran and Syria.
Israeli officials reportedly were skeptical about that warning ― until the Oval Office meeting four months later proved it correct.
dailycaller.com
