Blumenthal: Congress Should Subpoena Russia Transcripts

Sen. Richard Blumenthal Tuesday called on Congress to subpoena any transcripts and tapes of President Donald Trump's meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, saying they can reveal once and for all if the president shared classified information.

"In the opinion of many intelligence committee members, there is a jeopardy to our national security because disclosure about this plot, including the city where it was detected, in ISIS territory, could jeopardize lives or sources," the Connecticut Democrat told NBC's "Today" show.

Sharing classified information also "threatens our credibility in dealing with partners and allies, who provide extraordinarily valuable and sensitive information. There may be no law broken, but the rules and norms have clearly been crossed here."

He added that Congress must subpoena any transcripts and tapes to determine what exactly Trump may have said. "Those transcripts would reveal whether classified information was shared with the Russians."

On Monday, The Washington Post reported that Trump had shared "code word information" with the two Russians. McMaster Tuesday doubled down on his initial statement that intelligence sources or methods were not discussed during that meeting, and that Trump did not disclose military operations that were not already publicly known, But Blumenthal said McMaster's denial did not mean Trump did not disclose classified information.

"Code word information is what the Post reported," said Blumenthal. "That's a serious breach of norms and rules. And may well enable the Russians, who are our adversaries in that part of the world, to trace sources and methods of information. If certain information is disclosed and it can only come from a small number of sources, they can be narrowed down and identified."

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