WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — At least a part of the intelligence that the United States had about Daesh plans came from the Israelis, The New York Times reported on Tuesday citing two unnamed officials.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer refused to confirm on Tuesday that Israel was the source of intelligence information that US President Donald Trump shared with Russian Foreign Minister on May 10.
When asked to confirm reports that Israel was the source of the intelligence information shared with Russian officials, Spicer said, "I cannot comment specifically on that."
"We appreciate the relationship we have with Israel, and appreciate the exchange of information that we have with them. That being said, I'm not going to comment any further on that," Spicer added.
On Monday, the Washington Post reported that Trump told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ambassador to the United States Sergei Kislyak information about a terror threat involving laptops on airplanes. The information reportedly came from a US partner through an intelligence-sharing agreement.
Deputy National Security Adviser Dina Powell in a statement refuted the media claims and called the story "false." Later, Trump himself took to Twitter and said that he had every right to share information on terrorism and the safety of flights with Russian officials.
Kremlin's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov echoed the sentiment, calling the allegations that Trump shared secret information with Russian officials "absurd."
On May 10, Trump met with Lavrov and Kislyak at the White House. The two Russian diplomats also held a meeting with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and discussed global terrorism, Syria, Ukraine as well as bilateral relations.
