Germany should think twice about sharing secrets with US because Donald Trump's team 'chatter too much', MP says
President's handling of classified information described as a 'security risk for the West'
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Your support makes all the difference.Germany should reconsider sharing intelligence with the United States, because Donald Trump and his administration "chatter too much" and could give critical information to Russia, a German MP has warned.
Thomas Opperman, the leader of the Social Democrats (SDP), described Mr Trump's handling of classified information a "security risk for the West".
It comes after Angela Merkel suggested Germany and Europe can no longer rely on the US under Mr Trump.
Speaking at a campaign event held in a Bavarian beer tent, the German Chancellor emphasised the need for friendly relations with the US, Britain and Russia, but added: “We Europeans must really take our destiny into our own hands.”
Ms Merkel said that as the traditional western alliance is threatened by the new US presidency and Brexit, “the times in which we can fully count on others are somewhat over".
Mr Opperman, whose party is in a coalition with Ms Merkel's in the German parliament, said the intelligence services must be clever about sharing information with the US.
He told several German newspapers: “I have an impression that Donald Trump and his team chatter too much."
He added: “It should be taken into account that Trump is a president who, one should assume, passes critical information to Russian representatives.
“This is a dangerous situation. It cannot continue as it is. This endangers the information exchange and can be dangerous for both sides."
It comes after Mr Trump was accused of leaking highly classified information about Isis during his meeting with the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov.
The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, dismissed the scandal as "political schizophrenia".
Mr Trump went on to insist he has the "absolute right" to share "facts pertaining to terrorism and airline flight safety" with Russia.
It led a senior German politician to call the President "a security risk to the Western world".
Burkhard Lischka, who sits on the Bundestag’s intelligence oversight committee, said: “If it proves to be true that the American president passed on internal intelligence matters that would be highly worrying."
A spokesman for Ms Merkel said she was right to confront Mr Trump over the need to tackle climate change.
Steffen Seibert said the German Chancellor remained committed to strong trans-Atlantic relations, but her suggestion after meetings with Mr Trump that Europe can no longer entirely rely on the US “speaks for itself”.
“[US-German relations] are a strong pillar of our foreign and security policy, and Germany will continue working to strengthen these relations.
“Precisely because they are so important, it's right to name differences honestly.”
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