Attorney General William Barr revealed that the Department of Justice is looking into leaks to the media of sensitive information about the government’s investigation into Russian election meddling.
Barr did not say who the subjects of the investigations were as he addressed the issue Republican Senator Chuck Grassley raised in his questioning at a Wednesday hearing.
“We have multiple criminal leak investigations under way,” Barr said.
This is something that President Trump pushed with his previous attorney general. At one time, 27 investigations were known to be open.
Kellyanne Conway said after Barr’s testimony that she has no information on the probes.
She added, “I would be very concerned about that if I were the leakers and the leakees. I would be very concerned.”
Conway went on to suggest that Obama-era intelligence chiefs James Clapper and John Brennan should be at the top of the DOJ’s list.
“Let’s see who was talking to Clapper, Brennan, or if anybody, maybe not, they seem to be media figures now, too. Let’s find out if in fact its relevant,” she said.
Conway declared, “I know who the real leakers are, but I also, if I reveal them, I have to reveal the leakees, but I’ll do it some other time. But I’ll let the attorney general worry about that.”
It is not immediately clear what classified information she thought that Clapper, the director of national intelligence in the last administration, and Brennan, an ex-CIA director, may have shared.
“Leaks undermine the ability of investigators to investigate, further leaks to the papers while Congress’ questions to the department go unanswered is unacceptable,” Grassley said at a Senate Judiciary hearing. “What are you doing to investigate unauthorized media contacts by the department and FBI officials during the Russian investigation?”
Barr assured Grassley that the DOJ is looking into it without offering specific details.
Trump’s White House did not accuse Brennan of leaking to the media. But Trump has said on a number of occasions that he believes former FBI director James Comey, who was on the review list, is a leaker, a liar and a dirty cop.
Barr gave signals that White House officials or Trump himself had intimated that they wanted him to conduct investigations into enemies of the president.
He testified, under oath, “they have not asked me to open an investigation,” but couldn’t say definitively whether Trump or anyone else in the White House had recommended an investigation into a specific person.
Credit: Daily Mail
