JERUSALEM – President Donald Trump enthusiastically embraced Israel’s leader. He solemnly placed a note in the ancient stones of Jerusalem’s Western Wall on Monday. He sent a signal of solidarity to an ally he’s pushing to work harder toward peace with the Palestinians.
But Trump’s historic gestures in Jerusalem were shadowed even here by reminders of tumult back home.
In this second stop on his maiden foreign trip, Trump unexpectedly offered a new defense of his disclosure of classified information to Russian diplomats in a recent Oval Office meeting. Standing alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he argued he never mentioned Israel, the source of the classified intelligence, according to various officials – something he has not been accused of doing.
“So you have another story wrong,” he told reporters.
Netanyahu played down what has appeared to be a violation of an intelligence-sharing agreement with his country, saying U.S.-Israeli intelligence cooperation is “terrific.” But Trump’s offhand remark was another stark reminder that his troubles at home, including the investigation of his campaign’s ties to Russia and his firing of FBI Director James Comey, have followed him across the ocean.