The classified information that Donald Trump is said to have given to Russian officials is reportedly so secret that American news outlets have been asked not to reveal the details of it.
The US President is thought have "spontaneously" revealed details about Isis plot to blow up a passenger jet on the way to the US by using a bomb hidden inside a laptop computer, in a White house meeting Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, and its US ambassador, Sergei Kislyak.
The terror group is believed to have used stolen airport security equipment to test the device. Mr Trump allegedly revealed the name of an Isis-held city in Syria where and Israel agent who has infiltrated the group, sent the information from.
Intelligence officials have reportedly asked NBC News and other media organisations not to disclose the type of equipment, where it was stolen or the name of the city where the intelligence came from, saying it could threaten US national security if the information is published.
The request for the details to be withheld from publication appears to contradict Mr Trump’s insistence that he had done nothing wrong in sharing the information.
The Republican claimed on Twitter that he had “the absolute right” to share the “facts” with Russia and did so for “humanitarian reasons”.
His national security adviser, HR McMaster, later said it was “wholly appropriate” for the intelligence to be shared.
“In the context of that discussion, what the president discussed with the foreign minister was wholly appropriate to that conversation and is consistent with the routine sharing of information between the president and any leaders with whom he’s engaged,” he said.
The breach was reportedly discovered when Mr Trump’s counterterrorism adviser, Tom Bossert, read notes of the President’s meeting with the Russian officials and realised that classified information had been disclosed.
He is said to have immediately called the CIA and National Security Agency to report his concerns.
Fears of the Isis plot earlier this year led Mr Trump to introduce a ban on electronic devices being carried on flights to the US from eight Middle Eastern and North African countries.
