What’s Donald Trump’s Russia secret?

Donald Trump either has nothing to hide about his relationship with Russia — or he is hiding in plain sight, as all good con artists do. What you believe will depend on your political prejudices and how you feel about Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin.    

The Washington Post‘s report yesterday that Trump shared ‘highly classified information’ about Isis with the Russian foreign minister last week has triggered the usual consternation in Washington. The most potentially damaging allegation is that what Trump told Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak has compromised an intelligence source, or broken the rule that intelligence-sharing countries do not pass on classified information without obtaining consent from or informing the country who passed on the intelligence in confidence. Disclosing such state secrets — codeword information, according to the Post, the highest level of confidential information — would be illegal for almost anyone in the US government, yet the President has the authority to do so.