The current scandal about the Trump administration making classified information available to America’s enemies is not Trump’s first major security breach—far from it. That happened in his first administration when he invited the Russians into the Oval Office of the White House.

To be clear, he opened the door to only the Russians and their media. American reporters were locked out. Mr. Trump then proceeded to show the Russians classified information that had been provided by an ally. He bragged about it as he showed them classified information.

Stifling Media Coverage

To report what happened and obtain photographs, the American press had to go to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Remember that? No? The press scaled the story down and many Americans remained unaware it had ever happened. They certainly did not give it the coverage that bestowed on Mrs. Clinton’s emails.

At the Request of Vladimir Putin

Donald Trump had barely been inaugurated when he honored as request from Vladimir Putin to invite a Russian delegation to the White House. According to Politico

“When President Donald Trump hosted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the Oval Office on Wednesday just hours after firing the FBI director who was overseeing an investigation into whether Trump’s team colluded with the Russians, he was breaking with recent precedent at the specific request of Russian President Vladimir Putin.”

In addition to Mr. Lavrov, the invitation included Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak. Important points to note are:

• The meeting broke with recent precedent
• It was scheduled at the specific request of Vladimir Putin
• American press was not allowed to cover the visit
• Photos were provided to the US press afterward by the Russian Foreign Ministry

Showing Classified Information

As if all that was not bad enough, Reuters reported that,

“President Donald Trump disclosed highly classified information to Russia’s foreign minister about a planned Islamic State operation, two U.S. officials said on Monday. The intelligence, shared at a meeting last week with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak, was supplied by a U.S. ally in the fight against the militant group, both officials with knowledge of the situation said.”

Reuters also reported that, “One of the officials said the intelligence discussed by Trump in his meeting with Lavrov was classified ‘Top Secret’ and held in a secure ‘compartment’ to which only a handful of intelligence officials have access.”

This all happened in May of 2017, when Mr. Trump had been in office for less than five months.

Perception vs Reality

When Hillary Clinton ran for president in 2016, her opponents seized on her use of a private email system to create the perception of a potential security risk. The Republicans, the media, and the FBI all jumped on the emails and the potential for — the possibility of — a security breach. They kept at it like a dog gnawing a bone until they succeeded in putting Mr. Trump in the White House for the first time.

But the reality of what Donald Trump did with classified information in the Oval Office received only a fraction of the attention and even less of the outrage.

Now that Trump’s Vice President, Secretary of Defense, Director of National Intelligence, CIA Director, Chief of Staff, Deputy Chief of Staff, and Secretary of State were have all committed another actual security breach of classified information, the Republicans are scrambling to direct attention elsewhere, anywhere, as long as it’s not at them.

Ignoring the Classified Security Breach

The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board chose to focus their attention on how the conversation revealed to the president who supported his European policy and who didn’t. Also for letting the European countries know exactly what the Trump regime thinks of them. The WSJ has chosen not to address the security breach of classified information at all.

Soon after the May 2017 meeting in the Oval Office, American intelligence extracted a high-level covert source from within the Russian government. This action was driven by concerns the individual was at risk, in part, by the repeated mishandling of classified intelligence by Trump and his administration.

I wonder how long it will take what’s left of America’s authorities to recognize the seriousness of this administration’s total lack of, well, seriousness, Its senior members are like a group of summer campers who take over the kitchen one night when the door is unlocked and are having a food fight.

Except that the supplies aren’t classified and no one dies in a food fight.