By Matthew Rusling
WASHINGTON, May 16 (Xinhua) -- The controversy over U.S. President Donald Trump's leaking highly classified intelligence to Russia could be a major distraction from Trump's domestic and foreign agendas, U.S. experts said.
The controversy, caused by a Washington Post article, has dominated U.S. headlines over the past two days, raising fears that sensitive information on intel sources and methods has been leaked.
The Post cited an unnamed source as saying that Trump shared intel on terror group Islamic State (IS) during a closed-door meeting with visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and other Russian officials in the White House last week.
The accusations have sparked outrage from Democrats, who contend that Moscow is no friend of Washington, amid a chill in relations that has gone on for the past few years.
The White House strongly denies charges that any intel sources or methods were disclosed to the Russians. In a press briefing on Tuesday, U.S. National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster told reporters that the discussion with Russia was "wholly appropriate."
But whether the charges are true or false, U.S. experts said this and other White House turmoil is creating, at the very least, the sense that the administration is in a state of disorder.
And that could impact Trump's economic, domestic and foreign policy agenda going forward, experts said.
"These allegations are destroying any momentum that his domestic agenda has, as well as distracting from his foreign policy push-especially with his upcoming first major overseas trip," Dan Mahaffee, senior vice president and director of policy at the Center for the Study of Congress and the Presidency, told Xinhua.
He was referring to Trump's upcoming trip next week to the Middle East, that will take him to Saudi Arabia, Israel, Palestine, Vatican, and Belgium before attending the G7 summit in Italy.
"There already is a narrative about Russia that the White House cannot shake, and each day is more and more about Russia," Mahaffee said.
He expressed concerns about what's going on with the Trump administration.
"In general, I cannot understand why the White House continues to be blind to the public concerns about the relationship with Russia, as well as how these crises - Russia, the Comey firing, and their stalled agenda in Congress - are largely of the President's own making," he said.
He was referring to Trump's controversial firing of James Comey, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Critics said the timing was suspect, as Comey's investigation into Trump's alleged ties with Russian had just picked up steam.
"If the Trump Administration wants to restore any momentum to their agenda, there has to be an end to the drama and self-inflicted damage," Mahaffee said.
Trump has been criticized for outlandish statements made on Twitter, which have gotten him into hot water with critics and mainstream U.S. media.
Pundits said the president needs to exercise more control of his emotions and focus more sharply on his policy agenda.
Darrell West, vice president and director of governance studies of the Brookings Institution, told Xinhua that Trump clearly "has a blind spot for the Russians and does not understand that the country is not a friend to the United States."
"His views are far out of line even with most legislators within his own party. The United States has nothing to gain from sharing information with Russia and a lot to lose," he said.
"This is something that could destabilize the Republican coalition because leading party members understand this is objectionable behavior and it is not something they want to see repeated from the American president," he added.
Trump strongly defended his action, arguing in a tweet Tuesday that he as the president has "the absolute right" to share certain information with Russia.
McMaster stressed that Trump did not know the source of the intelligence shared. U.S. media reports revealed that Israel, the U.S. ally in the Middle East, is the source of the information on IS.
Many in the U.S. are worried that this leaking controversy could raise concerns among U.S. allies about sharing information with the U.S. in the future.
