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Former Congressman Hamilton Reacts To Classified Info Leak

The White House

Former Indiana Congressman Lee Hamilton says the country should be alarmed by reports President Trump shared classified information about an ISIS plot with Russian officials.

Hamilton, a Democrat who founded Indiana University's Center on Representative Government, says the disclosure means allies could lose confidence in the U.S. and hold back classified information in the future.

“Congress should be screaming about this,” he says. “Congress has an obligation as a supposedly co-equal branch of government to protect the national security of the United States.”

Hamilton says Congress should take steps to make sure similar leaks of classified information don’t happen again.

“The best response is to tighten up the ship," he says. "It is to make sure a president, who is leaving on a foreign trip this weekend, is very well briefed before going into the meetings, is alerted to the possibility that he must not share certain information."

Hamilton says the meeting between Trump, the Russian foreign minister and the Russian ambassador was a recipe for trouble, because the Russian officials have decades of experience as diplomats, while Trump’s first job in government is as president.