Putin willing to release Trump transcript

Vladimir Putin says he can provide transcripts of the Trump conversation in which he is said to have shared intel.

US President Donald Trump. Picture: AP

Russian President Vladimir Putin last night said he was prepared to release transcripts to prove Donald Trump did not pass any secrets on to the Russian Foreign Minister in the Oval ­Office last week.

He said Moscow was ready to hand a transcript of the US President’s meeting with Sergei ­Lavrov over to US politicians if that would help reassure them.

“If the US administration finds it possible, we are ready to provide a recording of the conversation ­between Lavrov and Trump to the US congress and Senate,” Mr Putin told reporters.

Putin said “political schizophrenia” had gripped the US. Picture: AP

His comments came after a day of crisis at the White House where advisers were also dealing with an explosive New York Times report that Mr Trump had urged then FBI ­director James Comey to drop the investigation into former ­national security ­adviser ­Michael Flynn.

“I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go,’’ Mr Trump told Mr Comey, according to a memo by Mr Comey obtained by The New York Times. “He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.”

The White House denied the report, further aggravating its battle with the US media.

Mr Trump has been under fire since it was revealed he shared sensitive intelligence with Mr Lavrov and the Russian ­ambassador to the US, Sergei ­Kislyak.

Mr Putin joked yesterday that Mr Lavrov had not passed what he said were the non-existent ­secrets on to him ­either.

“(Lavrov) didn’t share these secrets with us — neither with me nor with the representatives of the Russian security services. That is very bad of him,” Mr Putin said to sniggers from the audience as he answered questions after talks with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni in the southern Russian city of Sochi. Mr Putin said he had “no other explanation” as to why Mr Trump had come under attack other than “political schizophrenia”.

Trump and Lavrov in the White House on May 10. Picture: AP

He slammed critics who spread allegations about Mr Trump’s ties with Russia. “What else will the people generating such drivel and nonsense think of next?” he said.

“They are shaking up their ­internal politics while using anti-Russian slogans. They either don’t understand that they are hurting their own country, and then they are simply dumb, or they understand everything and then they are dangerous and corrupt.’’

Israel earlier said it had “full confidence” in its intelligence-sharing relationship with the US, after it was reveale­d as the source of the classified information that the US President divulged to Mr Lavrov. Israel’s comments suggest the controversy may not be as ­serious as was feared, as the White House defended Mr Trump in the face of fierce media criticism.

National Security Adviser HR McMaster backed Mr Trump’s conduct in the meeting with Mr Lavrov.

“What the President discussed with the Foreign Minister was wholly appropriate to that conversation and is consistent with the routine sharing of information betwee­n the President and any leaders to whom he’s engaged,” Mr McMaster said yesterday.

He said Mr Trump had been ­unaware of who had provided the inform­ation when he shared it with Mr Lavrov, and could not be accused of divulging a source.

Mr Trump reportedly shared classified information on an Islam­ic­ State plot to develop laptop­ computers that would explode on planes. The information was said to have been provided to the US by a Middle East ally that was unaware Mr Trump would share it with the Russians.

That ally was widely reported to be Israel, although neither the US nor Israel would confirm that.

But Israel, where Mr Trump will visit at the weekend, did not appear to be angered by the disclosures, contrary to the predict­ion of US media outlets.

“Israel has full confidence in our intelligence-sharing relationship with the United States and looks forward to deepening that relationship in the years ahead under President Trump,” said the Israeli ambassador to the US, Ron Dermer.

Mr Trump has defended his conduct, saying in tweets that he had an “absolute right” to disclose “facts pertaining to terrorism and airline flight safety”.

Yesterday he described his time with Mr Lavrov as “a very, very good meeting”.

But Republican John McCain described Mr Trump’s alleged disclosures­ as “deeply disturbing”.

“Reports that this information was provided by a US ally and shared without its knowledge send a troubling signal to America’s allies and partners around the world and may impair their willingness to share intelligence with us in the future,” the senator said.

The chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, Repub­lican Bob Corker, said the White House was “in a downward spiral right now”.

- With Agencies