White House searching for Russia bounty intel leakers
Reaction from former Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker.
Former Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker told “Outnumbered Overtime” Tuesday he agreed with the Trump administration's reported move to launch an internal investigation to determine who leaked intelligence that Russian officials had paid Taliban-linked militants bounties to kill American soldiers.
“Anyone that leaks classified information, obviously, is violating their agreement with the United States government for access to that," Whitaker said. "So, they have committed a crime and that should be investigated.
“We did investigate those cases while I was at the Department of Justice.”
Politico reported earlier Tuesday that administration officials have interviewed people with access to the intelligence and believe they have narrowed down the possible leak suspects to fewer than 10 people.
President Trump and the White House have repeatedly downplayed the reports and denied claims the president was briefed on the intelligence, claiming the information is not verified.
“From what I hear, and I hear it pretty good, the intelligence people didn’t even — many of them didn’t believe it happened at all," President Trump told Fox Business Network's Blake Burman last week.
TRUMP SAYS INTEL DOESN'T BACK UP REPORT ON RUSSIAN BOUNTIES AGAINST US TROOPS
“I think it’s a hoax,” Trump continued. “I think it’s a hoax by the newspapers and the Democrats.”
“If the Russians were paying bounties to kill American soldiers, to the Taliban, obviously the president would be told that and he would take decisive action," Whitaker told host Harris Faulkner Tuesday. "[I] fully expect that.
“But what we hear now is that this information was not verified, therefore we don’t know if it was true or not and obviously we have now burned potential sources and methods of collecting that intelligence by this leak.”
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“While I think the gravity of the alleged intelligence is very serious, and if true we should punish Russia for that," Whitaker added. "I think more importantly these leakers and folks that cannot be trusted with national security information should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, otherwise our government can’t function."
Fox News’ Tyler Olson and Gillian Turner contributed to this report.
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