Alan Dershowitz: 'This is the most serious charge ever made against a sitting president'

pulse

May 16, 2017 2:33 AM

Pundits and lawmakers are trying to make sense of reports that President Donald Trump shared highly classified information with Russia.

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As reports reverberate throughout Washington that President Donald Trump shared highly classified information with two Russian officials in the White House last week, pundits and lawmakers are trying to make sense of the news.

Legal scholar and CNN contributor Alan Dershowitz had a particularly blunt assessment.

"This is the most serious charge ever made against a sitting president," Dershowitz said on CNN. "Let's not minimize it."

Citing current and former US officials, The Washington Post on Monday first reported that Trump shared information The Post said jeopardized a key source of intelligence on the Islamic State terrorist group.

The report comes as the White House deals with fallout from Trump's unexpected firing of the FBI director, James Comey, who was leading an investigation into whether Trump colluded with Russia to meddle in the 2016 election.

But Monday's news overshadowed Comey's dismissal, Dershowitz said.

"Comey is in the wastebasket of history," he said. "Everything else is off the table."

Trump is scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia and Israel next week, his first international trip since taking office. Monday's reports will create "a terrible problem" as Trump prepares to embark on the trip, Dershowitz said.