Trump 'intel leak' put Israeli 'IS spy' in danger

President Donald Trump's alleged disclosure of highly classified information to Russian officials may have placed the life of an Israeli spy embedded with the Islamic State group in danger, ABC news reported Tuesday.

Last week during Oval Office talks, Trump reportedly gave Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Moscow's envoy to the US Sergey Kislyak classified information from a foreign intelligence partner about a specific terror threat posed by the Islamic State group.

The Washington Post, citing unnamed officials, reported that "Trump went off script and began describing details about an Islamic State terrorist threat related to the use of laptop computers on aircraft".

It was later reported Tuesday that Israel had provided the US with the critical classified information, according to the New York Times, which was only shared on condition that the source remain confidential.

The source of the intelligence was reportedly an Israeli spy embedded with IS, who provided information that the group was planning to blow up a passenger jet en route to the US using a bomb concealed in laptop, ABC reported.

The information was deemed credible enough for the US to ban all laptops on flights from the Middle East to America as a result, with the ban likely to expand.

Matt Olsen, the former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, told ABC that Trump's disclosure of classified information could jeopardise "future sources of information about plots against us".

Former US ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro, also criticised Trump's disclosure to Russian officials, saying it demonstrated a "poor understanding of how to guard sensitive information", ABC reported.

Israel's intelligence service may exercise more caution in the future before sharing information in the future, he added.

Israel, however, has not yet confirmed that the information shared by Trump with Russia came from its intelligence services.

After reports of the intelligence disclosure emerged, Trump took to Twitter to defend himself. 

"As President I wanted to share with Russia (at an openly scheduled W.H. meeting) which I have the absolute right to do, facts pertaining to terrorism and airline flight safety," he wrote on social media.

In defending his disclosures to the Russian officials, Trump cited "humanitarian reasons" and an effort to get the Kremlin to "greatly step up" its fight against the Islamic State group.

Since coming to office in January, Trump has lurched from crisis to crisis, lampooning the intelligence services, law enforcement, and the media along the way.

Trump's meeting with top Russian diplomats last week came one day after he threw his administration into turmoil by taking the rare step of firing his FBI director James Comey.

Comey had been overseeing investigations into possible Trump campaign collusion with Russia to skew the 2016 election.