>
Article snippet: (Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign-up.) Good morning. Here’s what you need to know: • “I hope you can let this go.” President Trump asked the former F.B.I. director, James Comey, to close the investigation into Michael Flynn, his former national security adviser, over Mr. Flynn’s financial ties to Russia, according to two people who read a memo by Mr. Comey. In a video, our reporter explains the significance of the paper trail Mr. Comey left behind. _____ • Mr. Trump defended what he called his “absolute right” to share classified information about an Islamic State plot with visiting Russian officials. A former and a current U.S. official told our reporters that the intelligence was provided by Israel, where he is headed next week. Political analysts said that Russia welcomed Mr. Trump’s possible policy shift in the sharing of intelligence. “We look at this chaos with a bit of a smile,” said one analyst close to the Kremlin. Some of Mr. Trump’s senior aides, including Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, above, his national security adviser, are said to worry about leaving the president alone in meetings with foreign leaders. _____ • And the president had praise for Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish president, as a stalwart ally against the Islamic State when the two met in the Oval Office. Disagreement remained over U.S. support for Kurdish insurgents in Syria. Our Turkey correspondent explored the decline of democracy in Turkey in an interactive video dia... Link to the full article to read more