Administration officials reassure everyone that Trump doesn't have the 'knowledge' to leak intel harmful to U.S. allies

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last updated 17 May 2017

On Tuesday, The New York Times revealed the real reason that Trump administration officials aren't freaking out about President Trump's potential to spill classified information, as he did last week in a meeting with Russian officials:

In private, three administration officials conceded that they could not publicly articulate their most compelling — and honest — defense of the president: that Mr. Trump, a hasty and indifferent reader of printed briefing materials, simply did not possess the interest or knowledge of the granular details of intelligence gathering to leak specific sources and methods of intelligence gathering that would do harm to United States allies. [The New York Times]

But not even Trump's apparent lack of "interest or knowledge" is enough to assuage some officials' fears. The New York Times also reported that some of Trump's senior advisers are nervous about "leaving him alone in meetings with foreign leaders out of concern he might speak out of turn."

On top of that, advisers are dealing with Trump's mood, which has reportedly become increasingly "sour and dark." Trump has apparently reached the point of "turning against most of his aides — even his son-in-law Jared Kushner — and describing them in a fury as 'incompetent.'"