Vladimir Putin 'willing to provide transcript' of Donald Trump meeting with Russians

Kremlin leader dismisses scandal engulfing US President as 'political schizophrenia'

Lucy Pasha-Robinson
Wednesday 17 May 2017 13:37 BST
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Vladimir Putin 'willing to provide recording' of Donald Trump meeting with Russians

Vladimir Putin has said he is willing to provide a transcript of Donald Trump's meeting with senior Russian officials, insisting the US President did not share classified intelligence.

News agencies had initially suggested the Russian leader had offered to release an audio recording of the contentious meeting with foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, but subsequent reports showed he had used a word more accurately translated as transcript.

It was not immediately clear whether the meeting had been recorded by the Russian officials, and if so whether the US Government was aware the meeting was being taped.

Mr Putin said: "If the US administration deems it possible, we are ready to provide a transcript of the conversation between Mr Lavrov and Mr Trump in the US Senate and the US Congress in the event the American administration would want it, of course."

The Russian president has repeatedly denied Mr Trump passed secrets to Mr Lavrov and has dismissed the scandal engulfing the former real estate mogul as "political schizophrenia."

It comes after Mr Trump reportedly revealed highly classified information about Isis to Mr Lavrov and Russian ambassador to the US Sergei Kislyak in a White House meeting last week, according to the Washington Post.

The information revealed by the President while in the Oval Office, was said to have been provided to the US by an American ally through a sensitive intelligence sharing arrangement.

White House officials took steps to contain the damage after the meeting, placing calls to the CIA and National Security Agency. It was unclear which country passed on the intelligence to US officials.

One the most worrying aspects of the slip, was that Mr Trump revealed the city in Isis territory where the US intelligence partner detected the threat. There were claims that Russia could use the information to undermine the US, or its ally.

The development comes after the Republican leader dismissed FBI Director James Comey, who was leading an investigation into Russian collusion in the President's 2016 election campaign.

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