Washington — Embattled US President Donald Trump insisted on Tuesday he had the right to share "facts" with Russia, one day after bombshell allegations that he divulged highly classified intelligence to Russian diplomats in the Oval Office. According to an explosive report from the Washington Post, Trump disclosed highly classified information on the Islamic State (IS) group during a meeting last week with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Moscow’s man in Washington, Sergey Kislyak. In a shock twist, the information reportedly came from a US ally who had not authorised Washington to share it with Moscow, a potential blow to intelligence relationships based on trust that secrets will be kept. "As president, I wanted to share with Russia [at an openly scheduled White House meeting] which I have the absolute right to do, facts pertaining to terrorism and airline flight safety," Trump pushed back in an early morning tweet. He wrote he was motivated by "humanitarian reasons, plu...

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