US extracted top spy from Russia ‘because Donald Trump couldn’t be trusted with information after meeting Russians’
- Decision made soon after US president discussed sensitive information with Russian officials in Oval Office in 2017, according to CNN
- Officials worried about mishandling of classified intelligence by Trump and his administration
The US extracted “one of its highest-level covert sources inside the Russian government” in 2017, it was reported on Monday, in part because of concerns that mishandling of classified intelligence by Donald Trump and his administration could jeopardise the source’s safety.
CNN cited “multiple Trump administration officials with direct knowledge” of the matter and reported that “a person directly involved in the discussions” said the move was made because Trump and his officials could not be fully trusted.
Describing a “culmination of months of mounting fear within the intelligence community”, CNN said the decision to carry out the extraction was made soon after a now infamous Oval Office meeting in May 2017.
During the session, Trump, who had recently fired FBI Director James Comey, discussed highly sensitive intelligence concerning Isis in Syria with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov and then-ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak.
The report also said that US officials had been alarmed by Trump’s private meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin in Hamburg in July later that year.