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In secret mission in 2017, the US extracted from Russia one of its highest-level covert sources inside the Russian government - in part because of concerns that Trump admin repeatedly mishandled classified intel and could expose the covert source as a spy. cnn.com/2019/09/09/pol…
The decision to extract the spy occurred after May 2017 meeting in Oval Office in which Trump discussed highly classified intel w/Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador to US Sergey Kislyak. The intel, concerning ISIS in Syria, had been provided by Israel.
NYT confirmed CNN story and gives more details about how operation to extract spy went down. CIA, worried about his safety, proposed in late 2016 to extract him. But "the situation grew more tense when the informant at first refused citing family concerns" nytimes.com/2019/09/09/us/…
"The Moscow informant was instrumental to the CIA’s most explosive conclusion about Russia’s interference campaign: that President Vladimir V. Putin ordered and orchestrated it himself"
"The move brought to an end the career of one of the CIA’s most important sources. It also effectively blinded American intelligence officials to the view from inside Russia as they sought clues about Kremlin interference in the 2018 [midterms] and next yr’s presidential contest"
"The person’s life remains in danger, current and former officials said, pointing to Moscow’s attempts last year to assassinate Sergei V. Skripal, a former Russian intelligence official who moved to Britain as part of a high-profile spy exchange in 2010."
"the source was also key to the C.I.A.’s assessment that he affirmatively favored Donald J. Trump’s election and personally ordered the hacking of the Democratic National Committee."
NYT story disputes that it was Trump that caused CIA to extract spy. NYT sources say intense media focus was the reason. Intel sources had told media at the time that an important source in Russian gov had provided evidence that Putin was behind election interference.
With media focused in 2016 on trying to determine who the source was - in order to know how trustworthy the intel was - the CIA grew concerned about his safety, were he to be outed.
And now Washington Post is out with its own story washingtonpost.com/national-secur…
