NEW YORK // Russian president Vladimir Putin offered on Wednesday to release notes of Donald Trump’s discussions with Russian diplomats last week during which the US president is accused of revealing classified information.
The extraordinary intervention by Mr Putin is the latest escalation in the controversy over intelligence disclosures and comes as Washington reels over fresh claims that president Trump tried to halt an FBI investigation into his former national security adviser.
The twin scandals have forced the White House into damage limitation mode as congressional Republicans demand further investigations.
Officials have played down the significance of the information revealed by Mr Trump to the Russian diplomats – which was reportedly supplied to the United States by Israel on the condition that it was passed no further – as demands for a special prosecutor or impeachment grow louder.
Mr Trump met Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, and the Russian ambassador to the US, Sergey Kislyak, at the White House on Wednesday last week. During a discussion about tackling ISIL, US media reported that the American president disclosed classified intelligence that might compromise an Israeli asset inside a militant stronghold in Syria.
At a time when relations with Russia are already under intense scrutiny, Mr Putin said he was prepared to help.
“If the US administration finds it possible, we are ready to provide a recording of the conversation between Lavrov and Trump to the US congress and senate,” he said during a press conference, although aides hurriedly explained that Mr Putin meant to offer notes rather than a tape.
Israel has tried to limit the damage by talking up its close partnership with Washington.
“The security relationship between Israel and our greatest ally the United States, is deep, significant and unprecedented in volume,” Israeli defence minister Avigdor Lieberman wrote on Twitter. “This relationship w/ the US is unprecedented in its contribution to our strength. This is how it has been & how it will continue to be.”
The latest exchanges are another reminder of how links between Mr Trump’s team and Russian officials have cast a long shadow over this White House.
Michael Flynn was fired as national security adviser in February after it emerged that he misled the vice-president about meetings with the Russian ambassador during the election campaign.
With an FBI investigation gathering pace, its director, James Comey, was sacked last week.
As if that were not enough to provoke accusations of a cover-up, on Tuesday The New York Times obtained details of a memo written by Mr Comey in which he suggested Mr Trump had asked him to end his investigation into Mr Flynn.
“I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go,” is how Mr Trump allegedly put it during a one-on-one meeting. “He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.”
The White House has denied any improper conduct. An official pointed out that the acting FBI director last week testified that there had been no effort to impede the investigation.
But members of congress have demanded access to all of Mr Comey’s memos – he is known to be an assiduous note taker – relating to dealings with the president as part of their investigations.
Critics said the president was guilty of obstruction of justice.
John McCain, a senior Republican senator, compared the unfolding crisis with the scandal that brought down Richard Nixon.
“We’ve seen this movie before. It’s reaching Watergate size and scale,” he said at a dinner for the International Republican Institute. “This is not good for the country.”
Democrats in congress are demanding an independent commission to investigate Mr Trump’s ties to Russia and on Wednesday the first Republican in congress raised the idea of impeachment.
When asked about the issue, Representative Justin Amash, of Michigan, said interfering in an FBI investigation into Mr Flynn could be the basis of such a case “if the allegations are true”.
Jeanne Zaino, professor of political science at Iona College in New York, said it was too soon to talk about impeachment or Mr Trump’s removal from office.
But she said the two scandals stemmed from the same problem – Mr Trump’s lack of political experience.
“It may work in a business context. Using language like, ‘can you give the guy a break?’ might work in business but it doesn’t work in the White House and it doesn’t work with the FBI director,” she said.
“Similarly the release of secrets to the Russians – if that’s what it amounts to – is not OK in a political context.”
What comes next, she added, would depend on Republicans in congress and whether they reached a point where they decided Mr Trump was more of a liability than an asset.
Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader of the Senate, put it in simple terms. “It would be helpful to have less drama emanating from the White House,” he said.
Mr Trump is due to leave on Friday for his first foreign trip – beginning in Saudi Arabia – in what officials had hoped would be a chance to refocus his presidency.
Although Mr Trump may welcome a break from the Washington maelstrom, that task looks even harder now.
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
* With additional reporting by Associated Press and Agence France-Presse
