Russian President Vladimir Putin said early Wednesday that President Trump did not share classified material with Russian officials last week and is willing to give Congress transcripts to prove it.
The Associated Press and Reuters reported that Putin is willing to hand over the records of the president’s conversation with Russia’s foreign minister and ambassador, if the White House approves. Two days ago, The Washington Post reported that Trump revealed highly classified intelligence information during that Oval Office meeting.
The Post cited current and former US officials who said Trump divulged information from a foreign source, now known to be Israel, involving a terror threat from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
Putin on Wednesday joked that Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov “hasn’t shared those secrets with us.”
{mosads}”I’ll be forced to issue him with a reprimand because he did not share these secrets with us,” Putin joked. “Not with me, nor with representatives of Russia’s intelligence services. It was very bad of him.”
Reuters reported that Putin is willing to turn over a transcript of the meeting. A spokesman for Putin reportedly noted that the Russian government only had a written transcript of the conversations, and not an audio recording.
During a joint press conference with the visiting prime minister of Italy, Putin also accused U.S. lawmakers of “stupid” and “dangerous” “anti-Russian sentiment” with accusations of sharing intelligence, the AP reported.
Putin said he had “no other explanation” for the allegations other than “political schizophrenia.”
“Either they don’t understand the damage they’re doing to their own country, in which case they are simply stupid, or they understand everything, in which case they are dangerous and corrupt,” he added.
The Russian leader also suggested that Trump was being hindered from doing his job properly. He said the American people will be able to judge Trump’s performance as president “only when he’s allowed to work at full capacity.”
This report was updated at 8:46 a.m.