White House and National Security Council spokesman Mike Anton insisted Tuesday morning that President Trump was not confirming that he shared classified information with Russian officials when he tweeted that he'd "wanted to share with Russia" information about "terrorism and airline flight safety":
CBS News' Mark Knoller did not report whether Anton — notorious for his essay last year declaring "2016 is the Flight 93 election: Charge the cockpit or you die" — provided an explanation for how Trump's tweet defending his "absolute right" to share information did not amount to a confirmation. The president does have the legal right to unilaterally declassify information.
Trump's top aides as well as his national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, have denied The Washington Post's report that Trump shared highly classified information during a meeting at the White House last week with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Trump's tweets Tuesday morning came after his staff's ardent denials Monday evening.
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