Overnight Defense: White House defends Trump on classified intel report | Trump’s veterans hotline still not ready | Obama defends not bombing Syria

by Rebecca Kheel - 05/15/17 6:12 PM ET

Donald Trump, Sergey Lavrov, Russia — Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

THE TOPLINE: The White House on Monday afternoon pushed back sharply on reports that President Trump revealed highly classified information to Russian officials during a meeting last week.

In a series of statements, senior Trump officials sought to characterize the disclosures as benign and pertaining only to “common threats.”

“At no time were any intelligence sources or methods discussed and no military operations were disclosed that were not already known publicly,” said national security advisor H.R. McMaster, who attended the meeting.

McMaster also briefly addressed the press outside the White House, saying: “The story that came out tonight, as reported, is false.”

{mosads}”The nature of specific threats were discussed, but they did not discuss sources, methods or military operations,” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a statement.

Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategy Dina Powell, who also attended the meeting, called The Washington Post report “false” in a statement of her own.

According to The Post, Trump provided “code-word information” to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kilsyac, using a government term that refers to the highest level of classification. The intelligence had been provided by a U.S. partner through an intelligence-sharing arrangement.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill, including members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, were caught by surprise by the shocking revelation.

But the news quickly drew criticism even from Republicans.

The senior Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said the White House was “a downward spiral.”

“To compromise a source is something you just don’t do,” Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) told reporters.

The meeting between Trump, Lavrov and Kislyak took place Wednesday in the Oval Office, a day after the president’s firing of FBI Director James Comey.

The Hill’s Jordan Fabian and Katie Bo Williams have more on the story here. And check back for The Hill tonight for more updates.

THE CLAIMED INTEL: According to The Washington Post report, current and former U.S. officials said that Trump relayed information from a critical source of intelligence on the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

The information was provided by a U.S. partner through an intelligence sharing arrangement. The partner did not give the United States permission to share the information with Russia.

The Hill’s Ellen Mitchell has more on the Post report here.

THE REACTION: Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich (N.M.) pounced on the reports that President Trump shared highly classified intel with the Russians with a tweetstorm accusing Trump of a “disturbing pattern of recklessness.” The Hill’s Mark Hensch has more here.

GOP Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the White House was in a “downward spiral.” “They’ve got to figure out a way to come to grips [with] all that’s happening,” he said, according to Bloomberg. Click here for more.

And Twitter took note, with many resurfacing a 2016 tweet from Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). “Individuals who are ‘extremely careless’ with classified information should be denied further access to such info,” Ryan had tweeted in July, referring to former FBI Director James Comey’s statement about Hillary Clinton’s handling of classified information. Paulina Firozi has more on the social media reaction here.

IN OTHER NEWS… TRUMP ADMIN ACCUSES SYRIA OF COVERING UP MASS EXECUTIONS: The Trump administration on Monday accused the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad of covering up mass killings at its Saydnaya prison by using a crematorium to dispose of the bodies.

“Although the regime’s atrocities are well documented, we believe that the building of a crematorium is an effort to cover up the extent of mass murders taking place in Saydnaya prison,” Stuart Jones, the acting assistant secretary for Near Eastern affairs, said at a briefing. “We are appalled by the atrocities that have been carried out by the Syrian regime, and these atrocities have been carried out seemingly with the unconditional support of Russia and Iran.”

As many as 50 people a day are killed at the prison complex, Jones said. The Assad regime started modifying a building to use for the crematorium in 2013, he added.

The regime has previously been accused of atrocities at the prison, including a February report from Amnesty International alleging more than 13,000 secret hangings from 2011 to 2015.

The Hill’s John Bowden has more here.

OBAMA DEFENDS HIS SYRIA POLICY: Meanwhile, former President Obama defended his decision not to bomb Syria after Assad used chemical weapons in 2013.

“I actually think that the issue that required the most political courage was the decision not to bomb Syria after the chemical weapons use had been publicized and rather to negotiate them removing chemical weapons from Syria,” Obama said in an interview published Monday on Medium.

Critics have slammed Obama for failing to enforce his so-called “red line” that chemical weapons use would prompt U.S. military action. His administration instead negotiated a deal for Assad to remove his stockpile.

The deal’s shortcomings became apparent this year when Assad again used sarin on civilians. President Trump responded to the attack by ordering a cruise missile strike on a Syrian airfield.

Obama acknowledged in the interview the deal was “imperfect” but said it led to the removal of “99 percent” of Assad’s chemical weapons.

“Now, we know subsequently that some remained, so it was an imperfect solution,” he said. “But what we also know is that 99 percent of huge chemical weapons stockpiled were removed without having to fire a shot.”

The Hill’s Mark Hensch has more here.

TRUMP’S VETS HOTLINE NOT SET UP: A veterans’ complaint hotline that President Trump promised during his campaign has still not been set up four months after he took office, the Military Times reported.

White House officials told the Military Times they have no updates on when or whether the hotline will be established, while Department of Veterans Affairs officials did not respond to requests for comment.

Trump promised the private hotline would be “devoted to answering veterans’ complaints of wrongdoing at the VA and ensure no complaints fall through the cracks.”

The Hill’s Ellen Mitchell has more on the Military Times report here.

REPUBLICAN: NORTH KOREA MISSILE TEST ‘ONE OF MOST ADVANCED YET’: A Republican senator warned Monday that North Korea’s missile test over the weekend “appears to be one of its most advanced yet” and that the United States must put more pressure on China to address the issue.

“The most recent missile test by North Korea appears to be one of its most advanced yet and proves that a policy of maximum pressure that fully enforces all sanctions against the regime is the only way to bring Kim Jong Un to his senses,” Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), chairman of the Foreign Relations subcommittee on East Asia, said in a statement Monday. “It is clear that North Korea is learning from those tests and improving their capabilities, with the ultimate goal of reaching the U.S. homeland.”

North Korea conducted a ballistic missile test Sunday, its 10th this year alone. Pyongyang claimed the test showed that it’s capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

Experts have cast doubt on that claim, though they say the test still represented a significant step forward for Pyongyang’s goal of developing an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland.