--- title: Donald Trump Tweets About Sharing Intel With Russia description: President Trump seemed to confirm a report that he gave info to Russian officials, saying he shared "facts pertaining to terrorism" canonical: https://time.com/4780312/president-trump-russian-leak-tweet/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-16T12:01:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T08:05:39.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Defends Sharing 'Facts' With Russian Officials og:description: He contradicted the White House's message og:url: https://time.com/4780312/president-trump-russian-leak-tweet/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta116dc2bcd77b2c3/6988cd627cdbac0218d585b6/trump-lede-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: President Donald Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Defends Sharing 'Facts' With Russian Officials twitter:description: He contradicted the White House's message twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta116dc2bcd77b2c3/6988cd627cdbac0218d585b6/trump-lede-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Defends Sharing 'Facts' With Russian Officials > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Updated: Dec 13, 2023 8:05 AM UTCPublished: May 16, 2017 12:01 PM UTC  Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., on May 15, 2017. Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., on May 15, 2017. Jabin Botsford—The Washington Post/Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Updated: Dec 13, 2023 8:05 AM UTCPublished: May 16, 2017 12:01 PM UTC President Trump appeared to confirm a report that he [revealed highly classified information](http://time.com/4779986/donald-trump-russia-classified-information-isis/?xid=homepage) to Russian officials — tweeting Tuesday morning that he shared “facts pertaining to terrorism and airline flight safety.” A [Washington _Post_ report](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-revealed-highly-classified-information-to-russian-foreign-minister-and-ambassador/2017/05/15/530c172a-3960-11e7-9e48-c4f199710b69%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.a2db7b2aed8a) published Monday, citing current and former U.S. officials, found that Trump shared highly classified intelligence about ISIS threats with Russian officials during an Oval Office meeting last week. The disclosure drew strong criticism from Democrats as well as [some Republicans](http://time.com/4780065/john-mccain-donald-trump-classified-intelligence/). White House officials immediately denounced the report Monday evening, saying Trump did not disclose intelligence sources or methods the Russian officials, and only shared information about a range of common threats. But [Trump’s tweets](http://time.com/4778467/lindsey-graham-trump-russia-investigation-twitter/?xid=homepage) contradicted the White House’s message. The President said he shared information relating to terrorism and flight safety for “humanitarian reasons.” “Plus I want Russia to greatly step up their fight against ISIS & terrorism,” he said. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/864436162567471104) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/864438529472049152) Officials speaking to the _Post_ said the information Trump revealed was considered so sensitive, details have been hidden from allies and held back even within the government. In a third tweet sent about an hour after the first pair, Trump reiterated his gripe over [officials leaking information](http://time.com/donald-trump-after-hours/) to the press. “I have been asking Director Comey & others, from the beginning of my administration, to find the LEAKERS in the intelligence community,” he wrote. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/864452996129853444) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4780312/president-trump-russian-leak-tweet/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4780312/president-trump-russian-leak-tweet/"},"headline":"President Trump Defends Sharing 'Facts' With Russian Officials","datePublished":"2017-05-16T12:01:42.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T08:05:39.000Z","description":"He contradicted the White House's message","url":"https://time.com/4780312/president-trump-russian-leak-tweet/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta116dc2bcd77b2c3/6988cd627cdbac0218d585b6/trump-lede-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta116dc2bcd77b2c3/6988cd627cdbac0218d585b6/trump-lede-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Donald Trump","caption":"President Donald Trump","creditText":"Jabin Botsford—The Washington Post/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4780312/president-trump-russian-leak-tweet/","name":"President Trump Defends Sharing 'Facts' With Russian Officials"}}]}] ```