Trump claims 'absolute right' to disclose information to Russia

Washington

US PRESIDENT Donald Trump defended wanting to share terrorism intelligence with Russian officials in a White House meeting last week, saying he has the "absolute right" to do so.

"As president I wanted to share with Russia which I have the absolute right to do, facts pertaining to terrorism and airline flight safety," he said in a series of tweets on Tuesday. "Humanitarian reasons, plus I want Russia to greatly step up their fight against ISIS (Islamic State) & terrorism."

Mr Trump's messages came after his top foreign policy advisers raced to contain political damage from a Washington Post report that the president revealed to Russia's foreign minister and ambassador highly classified information from a US intelligence partner abo…