GOP rep defends Trump’s meeting with Russian officials

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) is defending President Trump’s recent interactions with Russia, arguing that Trump “is acting as any president would.”

The GOP lawmaker’s defense follows reports the commander in chief revealed highly classified intelligence to Russian officials during a White House meeting last week.

Hunter, a member of the House Armed Service Committee, argued in a USA Today op-ed published late Tuesday that “American presidents are fully within their prerogative to establish working relationships with world leaders, and President Trump most certainly deserves the same opportunity.”

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“Now a recent meeting in the Oval Office with a Russian diplomat is inciting new fears, even though it in no way shifted the U.S.-Russia relationship — just as Presidents Bush or Obama were unable to influence Russia through their own diplomatic endeavors,” Hunter wrote.

The Washington Post was first to report Monday that Trump revealed “code-word information” — one of the highest levels of classification — to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during an Oval Office meeting last week.

The intelligence related to threats from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria that had been provided by a U.S. ally in the region that did not want the U.S. sharing it with other allies, according to the Post.

Trump reportedly seemed to boast to the Russian officials about his inside knowledge.

“I get great intel, I have people brief me on intel every day,” Trump reportedly said.

“If anything, President Trump is demonstrating a willingness to work with Russia but only to a point. A more accurate presumption should be that President Trump might not care too much what Putin thinks when it comes to putting America first,” Hunter argued.

The GOP lawmaker pointed to the U.S. missile strike on a Syrian airfield in April “that occurred without Putin’s knowledge or consent” as an example of Trump’s willingness to put American interests first, he argued.

The U.S. did alert Russia of its intention to carry out the missile strike, which was in response to a sarin gas attack in Syria that killed scores of civilians. U.S. and Western officials allegedly have accused Syrian President Bashar Assad’s military of carrying out the attack.

Hunter also attempted to shift focus to the Kremlin, asserting, “None of what has incited controversy should be seen as altering the view that Russia is a competitor that will take advantage of any weakness.”