CIA Filed Crimes Report in Russia Leak Case: O’Brien

A crimes report was filed by the CIA with the Department of Justice over a leak, National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said Wednesday.

Raw intelligence that suggested the Russians might be offering bounties to kill U.S. soldiers was leaked to the New York Times and other outlets.

The CIA and Department of Justice (DOJ) didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Data from the DOJ shows the number of classified leaks surged since President Donald Trump took office, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said this week, from 39 per year on average per year to 104 per average.

“We have seen targeted leaks of classified information against this President, and it is irresponsible: phone calls with foreign leaders, meetings with government officials, and now reports of alleged intelligence. Make no mistake: This damages our ability, as a nation, to collect intelligence,” she said.

The leak makes difficult to verify or debunk the raw intelligence regarding Russia, O’Brien told reporters outside the White House on Wednesday.

“Some leaker took it upon themselves in an effort to attack the president, or to maybe promote some policy agenda, to leak allegations that now make it almost impossible for us to find out what happened,” O’Brien said

Thousands of pieces of intelligence come in every week and analysts work on verifying them. While the intelligence community was working on assessing the legitimacy of the intelligence in question, officials put together a list of options the president could decide from if it was verified.

David Adams

Article URL : https://www.ntd.com/cia-filed-crimes-report-in-russia-leak-case-obrien_481196.html