As Jeff Sessions announces leak crackdown, here are 12 major leaks of the Trump era
CLOSE
The White House’s anger about leaks is growing. The attorney general and the national intelligence director announced Friday a renewed focus on what they described as threats to national security.
AP
Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Friday decried the “staggering number” of leaks since President Trump took office in January, and announced a broad crackdown on the unauthorized disclosures of classified information.Â
More: Attorney General Jeff Sessions announces broad crackdown on leaks
Here are some of the most high-profile leaks from the Trump era:Â
Jan. 5: Classified report on Russian hacking
The U.S. intercepted communications showing high-level Russian officials celebrating Trump’s election win over Hillary Clinton as a “geopolitical win,” The Washington Post reported. The Post also reported that the U.S. identified Russians who gave the hacked emails from Democrats to the WikiLeaks website.Â
That same day, NBC News reported it had an inside look at a “top secret” report on Russia that went to President Obama detailing Russian cyberattacks against not just the Democratic National Committee but the White House, State Department and American companies in part to disrupt the American democratic process.
Trump, who was elected but had yet to take office, was not pleased with the leaks and criticized NBC in a subsequent tweet – even though he was set to receive a briefing on the same report:Â
Jan. 10: The now-infamous dossier
In a controversial move, Buzzfeed News published a dossier which included salacious and unsubstantiated allegations that Russia had compiled damaging information on Trump which could be used against him. The dossier was composed by former British MI6 intelligence officer Christopher Steele.
Trump responded by calling it “a total political witch hunt” and accused intelligence agencies of leaking the following day. He compared their alleged actions to the gestapo tactics of  Nazi Germany.
Intelligence agencies should never have allowed this fake news to “leak” into the public. One last shot at me.Are we living in Nazi Germany?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2017
Intelligence officials denied leaking the document, which had been widely circulated among lawmakers and journalists before its publication. The president’s public criticism stunned intelligence officials, prompting then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to call the president-elect in defense of the agencies.
Jan. 24: Leak of draft executive order that could revive CIA ‘black site’ prisons
The New York Timesreported the existence of a draft executive order that had been circulated within the National Security Council that called for a review of an Obama policy which called for the end of CIA prisons where torture was used for interrogation methods.
Sean Spicer on Jan. 25 claimed that the document was not from the White House, though the Times reported that was false, per three other anonymous officials.
Feb. 2: Leaks of a tumultuous call with Australian prime minister
The Washington Post first reported the leaked details of a January call between Trump and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in which Trump berated Turnbull for a refugee agreement set in place by Obama. One day after Trump signed an order barring entry into the United States to travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations, Trump was said to have called the refugee agreement with Australia “the worst deal ever” and told Turnbull it put him in a politically difficult position.Â
Feb. 9: Michael Flynn discussed sanctions with Russia
It was leaked to the Washington Post that then-national security adviser Michael Flynn did actually discuss sanctions with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak before Trump took office, despite denying doing so in an interview with the Post the day before. Flynn was fired in February after revelations he misled administration officials including Vice President Pence about the nature of his conversations.  Â
Feb. 24: FBI leaks of Russia investigation
Trump condemned FBI “leakers†after CNN reported that agency rejected a recent White House request to publicly “knock down” media reports about communications between Trump associates and Russians during the 2016 presidential campaign.Â
May 15: Trump discloses highly classified information to Russia
The Washington Post first reported that Trump divulged highly classified information in an Oval Office meeting with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian ambassador Kislyak. The information provided had previously been withheld from allies and many within the U.S. government, and as USA TODAY reported, involved an advance in bomb making developed by the Islamic State that could be used against commercial aircraft.Â
Operatives from the Islamic State, or ISIS, had determined how to implant and mask an explosive inside the battery of a laptop computer, increasing the likelihood that a bomb can be slipped past screeners onto an airplane. Â
On May 22, in a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump denied mentioning “the word or the name Israel” in the conversation – a denial that appeared to implicitly confirm later reports that Israel was the partner country that provided the intelligence.
May 18: Leak of Comey memo
Details from memos kept by former FBI director James Comey, whom Trump abruptly fired on May 9, started appearing in the press. As first reported in the New York Times, Comey wrote that Trump asked him to tell the press that the president was not personally under investigation. Comey’s memos, details of which were reported by news outlets over the next several days, also included accounts of a meeting in which Trump pressed him to drop the inquiry into Flynn.Â
The leak of this information – which Comey later divulged he asked a friend to give to the Times – prompted the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller.Â
July 19 and 24: Trump tweets leak confirming CIA program
The Washington Post first reported that Trump had decided to end the CIA’s secret program aiding Syria rebels to fight against the Bashar al-Assad regime, something Russia has long sought.
Later, in a tweet criticizing the leak of the end of the program by the Post, Trump appeared to confirm the covert program’s existence.
The Amazon Washington Post fabricated the facts on my ending massive, dangerous, and wasteful payments to Syrian rebels fighting Assad…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2017
July 21: Sessions discussed Trump campaign with Russian ambassador
The Washington Post reported that Kislyak, Russia’s ambassador, told his superiors that he and Jeff Sessions did discuss campaign-related matters in two different conversations. The report contradicts previous statements from the attorney general that he did not speak with the ambassador about issues relating to the Trump campaign.
August 1: Jared Kushner’s intern conversation
Jared Kushner held an off-the-record talk with interns and warned them not to leak. But as first reported in Wired, Kushner provided insight into the negotiation tactics he is deploying in his attempts to help forge a peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians. He also lamented about the difficulties of his various roles which span from creating peace in the Middle East to the opioid crisis and criminal justice reform.
August 3: Phone transcripts of Trump’s calls with leaders of Mexico and Australia
The Washington Post publishes annotated transcripts of Trump’s calls. In his first call with the Mexican President Peña Nieto on Jan. 27, the president stresses that the Mexican leader must not say to the press that Mexico will not pay for the wall. Trump acknowledged he is in a political bind to claim Mexico will pay for the wall though he also acknowledged that the U.S. will ultimately be the ones to finance the border wall.Â
The transcript of the Jan. 28 call between Trump and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull solidified claims already reported about the tense nature of the call due to the refugee agreement inked by Obama. Trump denied the tensions from the call initially, though in the transcript he states: “I have had it. I have been making these calls all day, and this is the most unpleasant call all day.â€
Posted!
1 of 79
2 of 79
3 of 79
4 of 79
5 of 79
6 of 79
7 of 79
8 of 79
9 of 79
10 of 79
11 of 79
12 of 79
13 of 79
14 of 79
15 of 79
16 of 79
17 of 79
18 of 79
19 of 79
20 of 79
21 of 79
22 of 79
23 of 79
24 of 79
25 of 79
26 of 79
27 of 79
28 of 79
29 of 79
30 of 79
31 of 79
32 of 79
33 of 79
34 of 79
35 of 79
36 of 79
37 of 79
38 of 79
39 of 79
40 of 79
41 of 79
42 of 79
43 of 79
44 of 79
45 of 79
46 of 79
47 of 79
48 of 79
49 of 79
50 of 79
51 of 79
52 of 79
53 of 79
54 of 79
55 of 79
56 of 79
57 of 79
58 of 79
59 of 79
60 of 79
61 of 79
62 of 79
63 of 79
64 of 79
65 of 79
66 of 79
67 of 79
68 of 79
69 of 79
70 of 79
71 of 79
72 of 79
73 of 79
74 of 79
75 of 79
76 of 79
77 of 79
78 of 79
79 of 79
Â
