--- title: H.R. McMaster: Trump's Talk With Russians Was Appropriate description: National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster said Tuesday that President Trump's conversation with Russian diplomats was "wholly appropriate." canonical: https://time.com/4780973/donald-trump-russia-leaks-hr-mcmaster/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-16T17:01:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T04:57:15.710Z article:section: Politics og:title: National Security Advisor: Trump's Conversation With Russians Was 'Wholly Appropriate' og:description: It was "wholly appropriate given the purpose of that conversation." og:url: https://time.com/4780973/donald-trump-russia-leaks-hr-mcmaster/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd0ea98130dc2acbb/6988cd7b97cdff2eff6b0b95/trump-mcmaster.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: trump-mcmaster og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: National Security Advisor: Trump's Conversation With Russians Was 'Wholly Appropriate' twitter:description: It was "wholly appropriate given the purpose of that conversation." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd0ea98130dc2acbb/6988cd7b97cdff2eff6b0b95/trump-mcmaster.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # National Security Advisor: Trump's Conversation With Russians Was 'Wholly Appropriate' > 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 [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller May 16, 2017 5:01 PM UTC  Chris Kleponis, Susan Walsh—AP by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller May 16, 2017 5:01 PM UTC National Security Advisor [H.R. McMaster](http://time.com/4676669/donald-trump-general-hr-mcmaster-national-security-adviser/) said Tuesday that President Trump’s [conversation with Russian diplomats](http://time.com/4779986/donald-trump-russia-classified-information-isis/) about classified information was “wholly appropriate.” It marked the latest effort by the White House to rebut [a bombshell 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) that Trump allegedly shared highly classified information with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in [an Oval Office meeting](http://time.com/4773479/trump-lavrov-james-comey-russia/) last week. McMaster didn’t dispute that Trump shared information, but called it “wholly appropriate given the purpose of that conversation.” The Post reported that Trump passed along intelligence given to the U.S. by a foreign partner in the fight against ISIS without that ally’s permission. McMaster confirmed that Trump discussed a specific city with the Russia diplomats—which intelligence officials said they feared would trace back the sourcing of the intelligence. McMaster confirmed a key element of the _Post_ report, that Homeland Security Advisor Tom Bossert reached out to the CIA and National Security Agency after learning of Trump’s conversation to give them a heads up that the sensitive information was discussed. McMaster said Bossert’s calls came “maybe from an overabundance of caution.” Speaking from the White House briefing room, McMaster criticized the leakers in the story, saying “I think national security is put at risk by this leak and leaks like this.” McMaster, who issued a statement Monday afternoon denying that Trump discussed sources and methods, and sensitive military operations with the Russians, said he issued that statement because of the nature of the report. “The story combined what was leaked with other information and then insinuated about sources and methods,” McMaster said. McMaster abruptly concluded the briefing saying that Trump couldn’t have revealed sources and methods. “The President wasn’t even aware where this information came from,” the national security advisor said. “He wasn’t briefed on the sources and methods.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4780973/donald-trump-russia-leaks-hr-mcmaster/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4780973/donald-trump-russia-leaks-hr-mcmaster/"},"headline":"National Security Advisor: Trump's Conversation With Russians Was 'Wholly Appropriate'","datePublished":"2017-05-16T17:01:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:57:15.710Z","description":"National Security Advisor H.R. 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