Jonathan Ernst
President Trump on Monday seemed to confirm The New York Times’ report that Israel was the source of classified intelligence he revealed to Russian officials during an Oval Office visit several weeks ago. “I never mentioned the word or the name Israel. Never mentioned during that conversation,” he told reporters during a press availability with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “They’re all saying I did, so you have another story wrong. Never mentioned the word Israel.” However, no one ever accused the president of mentioning Israel by name during the Russia meeting—instead, as the Times originally reported, he disclosed classified information that was provided to intelligence officials reportedly by Israel, unbeknownst to him. The point of the controversy surrounding his revealing of the information to Russian diplomats was not that he mentioned a specific source, but that the information he revealed was enough for the Russians to figure out the source.