Trump furious over White House leaks
The White House fumed yesterday about an embarrassing leak regarding Donald Trump's shock decision to congratulate Russia's Vladimir Putin on his re-election, as lawmakers blasted him for feting the strongman's landslide win.
Trump shunned the advice of some aides in making the call in the first place, after Putin sailed to a fourth term in a vote plagued by evidence of ballot stuffing, media censorship and the jailing of political opponents.
But the controversy was compounded as it emerged the president's prepared notes for the call had specifically warned him "DO NOT CONGRATULATE" -- with a hunt now underway for the person who leaked the document.
The row erupted as lawmakers heard that Russia -- slapped with US sanctions over its meddling in the 2016 election -- remains a menace as the country gears up for congressional polls in November.
The Washington Post and others reported that aides explicitly advised Trump not to congratulate the Russian president, and instead urged him to condemn the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain.
According to accounts from the White House and the Kremlin, Trump did neither.
The leak of such sensitive information about Oval Office deliberations points to deep frustration within the White House about the president's ad-hoc approach and disregard for the advice of his inner circle.
Only individuals at the very highest levels of the administration would have known about the details of the call.
Allies, most notably in Britain, were furious about Trump's apparent lack of solidarity after double agent Sergei Skripal was poisoned in a small English town.
For critics, Trump's call offered Putin legitimacy while giving him a wedge to drive between Western allies and within the White House itself.
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