Vladimir Putin has said he’ll release a transcript of what Donald Trump said to Russian officials in the Oval Office, as claims he leaked sensitive intelligence send Washington into melt down.
Trump admitted releasing information to Russia on Tuesday following a report by The Washington Post that he had revealed classified intelligence about an Islamic State (IS) plot to Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov during a meeting last week.
Trump is also facing calls for his impeachment after it was reported he asked FBI director James Comey - whom he later fired - to stop investigating his national security advisor Mike Flynn’s links to Russia.
The intervention by the Russian president, whose Government is accused of trying to manipulate the presidential election in Trump’s favour, was compared to Russian “toying” with smaller countries that used to be Soviet states.
Putin dismissed criticism of what Trump said in the private conservation as “political schizophrenia”.
Putin said said he could give Congress the transcripts of Trump’s conversation with Lavrov.
White House officials denounced the allegation, insisting no intelligence sources and methods were discussed - but they didn’t deny that classified information was shared.
The allegation is ironic given Trump aggressively attacked Hillary Clinton for being unfit to be entrusted with sensitive intelligence throughout the election.
Putin said the claims left him “concerned because it’s hard to imagine what the people who produce such nonsense can come up with next”.
Trump, Lavrov and Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak were not accompanied by any American journalists or photographers during their meeting in the Oval Office.
The White House was criticised for allowing a Russian photographer in to take photos. Officials later said they were misled about his role and did not realise the photos would be published via Russia’s state news agency.
On Tuesday, Trump’s National Security Advisor HR McMaster denied the president could have jeopardised US spies because he was ignorant of the source of what he was revealing.
He told reporters: “The President wasn’t even aware of where this information came from - he wasn’t even briefed on the source or method of this information either.”