The Atlantic

How Trump’s Defenders Are Inadvertently Indicting Him

The strongest excuse for the president is that he had no idea what he was doing and unintentionally blurted out classified information—which isn’t very reassuring.
Source: Evan Vucci / AP

The news that Donald Trump reportedly shared sensitive classified information with Russian officials during an Oval Office meeting last week produced four major reactions.

There were some who refused to believe , even though the White House still has not specifically denied that the president shared classified info, despite carefully parsed denunciations of the story, and despite confirmation by multiple outlets. There were others who dismissed the scoop, pointing out that Trump has the authority to unilaterally declassify information—an argument that is true as far as it goes, but of sharing such info on relations with allies, to say

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Atlantic

The Atlantic5 min read
The Strangest Job in the World
This is an edition of the Books Briefing, our editors’ weekly guide to the best in books. Sign up for it here. The role of first lady couldn’t be stranger. You attain the position almost by accident, simply by virtue of being married to the president
The Atlantic6 min read
The Happy Way to Drop Your Grievances
Want to stay current with Arthur’s writing? Sign up to get an email every time a new column comes out. In 15th-century Germany, there was an expression for a chronic complainer: Greiner, Zanner, which can be translated as “whiner-grumbler.” It was no
The Atlantic6 min read
There’s Only One Way to Fix Air Pollution Now
It feels like a sin against the sanctitude of being alive to put a dollar value on one year of a human life. A year spent living instead of dead is obviously priceless, beyond the measure of something so unprofound as money. But it gets a price tag i

Related Books & Audiobooks