Did Donald Trump brief the Russians?

For its part, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, who has also denied allegations that Russia interfered in last year's presidential election, denounced the latest Post story as "fake".

Sanders then referenced Trump's surprise firing of FBI Director James Comey last week, a move Trump said he made in part because of Comey's handling of an investigation into Trump's ties to Russian Federation.

"The president and the foreign minister reviewed a range of common threats to our two countries, including threats to civil aviation", National Security Advisor HR McMaster, who participated in the meeting, told reporters.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said Trump is missing the point when he cites the right to discuss sensitive information.

That appeared to put him at odds with members of his own senior staff. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster denied on Monday that Trump had revealed intelligence sources and methods or military operations at the Russian Federation meeting. "Why is nobody talking about the President feels the responsibility to be more courteous to the Russians than to the American people".

Details of Trump's disclosure were first reported by The Washington Post and subsequently confirmed by Reuters and The New York Times.

The information disclosed by the USA leader had been provided by a partner of the United States that had not given Washington authorization to share it with Moscow, the Post said.

The intelligence was supplied by a USA ally in the fight against the Islamic State, officials with knowledge of the situation said.

In his tweets, Trump did not dispute media reports, initially from The Washington Post, that he revealed details that could jeopardize intelligence capabilities.

Although, it stated that revealing a classified information to Russians will only strain his relations with the intelligence agencies further.

Meanwhile, Republicans at home feel frustrated by the onslaught of news stories that give the appearance the White House is out of control.

Afterward, White House officials took steps to contain the damage, placing calls to the CIA and the National Security Agency, the newspaper said.

However, the reports have prompted commentary on whether the US' traditional intelligence partners can trust Trump or it will have a chilling effect on the sharing of intelligence. Two other senior officials who were present, including the secretary of state, remember it being the same way and have said so. The information Trump relayed, officials said, had been provided by a USA partner through an intelligence-sharing arrangement considered so sensitive that details have been withheld from allies and tightly restricted even within the United States government.

The turmoil has overshadowed Republican legislative priorities such as healthcare and tax reform and laid bare sharp divisions between the White House and USA intelligence agencies, which concluded in January that Russian Federation had tried to influence the election in Trump's favor. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said of the Trump administration. The anti-Russia campaign has been launched in opposition to Trump's initial suggestions of a more cooperative relationship with Moscow, including a pullback from efforts to overthrow Assad in Syria, to focus more military resources on China and East Asia.

"If the report is true, it is very disturbing", said Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer. "Revealing classified information at this level is extremely risky and puts at risk the lives of Americans and those who gather intelligence for our country".

Anthony Cordesman, a national security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said allies will be trying to size up Trump's "actual political strength relative to the divisions with Congress, the problems within his own party".

The White House had previously declared the allegations, first reported by the Washington Post, incorrect. Trump spent the campaign arguing that his opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, should be locked up for careless handling of classified information. It was during that meeting that he began describing details of an Islamic State terrorist threat related to the use of laptop computers on aircraft.

If the reports are true, "it's very damning, very damaging", Manchin said, adding that such disclosures "would be extremely risky and concerning to all".