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View Full Version : Leak Investigations Triple Under Trump, Sessions Says




Zippyjuan
08-04-2017, 12:26 PM
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/04/us/politics/jeff-sessions-trump-leaks-attorney-general.html

Trump thrives on chaos. Chaos leads to conflict and leaks are one way a side can try to either discredit the other or get their own point of view out. Another issue is that the leaks have tended to conflict with statements or tweets Trump has made. Trump has been critical of Sessions and leaks so his statement about cracking down may be to try to get Trump off his back.


Washington — Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced on Friday that the Justice Department was pursuing three times as many leak investigations as were open at the end of the previous administration, a significant devotion of law enforcement resources to hunt down the sources of unauthorized disclosures of information that have plagued the Trump administration.

Mr. Sessions vowed that the Justice Department would not hesitate to bring criminal charges against people who had leaked classified information. He also announced that the F.B.I. had created a new counterintelligence unit to manage these cases.

“I strongly agree with the president and condemn in the strongest terms the staggering number of leaks undermining the ability of our government to protect this country,” he said. The announcement by Mr. Sessions comes 10 days after President Trump publicly accused his attorney general of being “very weak” on pursuing these investigations.

Mr. Sessions also said he had opened a review of Justice Department rules governing when investigators may issue subpoenas related to the news media and leak investigations. “We respect the important role that the press plays and will give them respect, but it is not unlimited,” he said. “They cannot place lives at risk with impunity.”

The news conference came against the backdrop of repeated pressure by Mr. Trump, in public and in private, for the Justice Department and the F.B.I. to search for people inside the government who have been telling reporters what was happening behind closed doors.

The Justice Department declined to disclose specific figures for the number of open investigations it is now pursuing.

President Barack Obama’s administration oversaw a crackdown on people who talked to reporters about government secrets without authorization, bringing more leak-related criminal cases than all previous presidents combined.

But Mr. Trump has suggested an even harder line.

In February, Mr. Trump told James B. Comey, then the F.B.I. director, that the bureau should consider prosecuting reporters for publishing classified information, according to one of Mr. Comey’s associates. Mr. Sessions on Friday did not respond to a question about whether such a step, which would raise First Amendment issues, was under consideration.

The department’s rules require investigators to exhaust all other ways to obtain the information they are seeking before subpoenaing journalists for notes or testimony that could force them to help investigators identify their confidential sources.

In 2013, after a backlash in Congress and the news media over aggressive tactics to go after reporters’ information in leak investigations, then-Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. decided to revise those rules to tighten limits on when the government is allowed to subpoena telephone companies for logs of a reporter’s phone calls, which could reveal their confidential sources.

The changes made it harder for law enforcement officials to obtain such logs without providing advance notice and giving news organizations a chance to contest the request in court.

Mr. Sessions’ deputy, Rod J. Rosenstein, said the review of the guidelines had just begun and it was not clear what, if anything, would be changed.

Mr. Sessions was joined in the news conference by Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence. The two are co-chairmen of an insider threat task force first established by the Obama administration in 2011 after Chelsea Manning’s leak of hundreds of thousands of diplomatic and military files to WikiLeaks. Mr. Coats threatened to administratively discipline people suspected of leaking, apart from any prosecution.

“Understand this: if you improperly disclose classified information, we will find you, we ill investigate you, we will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law, and you will not be happy with the results,” Mr. Coats said.

The Trump administration has been bedeviled by leaks large and small that have disclosed infighting inside his administration, including the president’s rancorous phone conversations with foreign leaders. Information shared with reporters brought to light what surveillance showed about contacts by Mr. Trump’s associates with Russia and even what Mr. Trump said to Russian visitors in the Oval Office about his firing of Mr. Comey, the former F.B.I. director.

More at link.

FSP-Rebel
08-04-2017, 03:06 PM
US attorney general says four charged in crackdown on leaks

The US attorney general has said four people have been charged over leaks as the Trump administration launched a crackdown on embarrassing disclosures.
Jeff Sessions said the suspects were accused of divulging classified material or concealed contacts with foreign intelligence officers.

America's top prosecutor said the administration has tripled the number of active leak probes since January.

President Donald Trump has criticised Mr Sessions as "very weak" on leaks.

More...http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40829559

Zippyjuan
08-04-2017, 03:14 PM
Analysis from the BBC link:


Pleasing the boss
Analysis by Anthony Zurcher, BBC North America reporter

Jeff Sessions spoke about the Justice Department's efforts to crack down on national security leaks before television cameras and reporters, but his intended audience was almost certainly the man in the Oval Office.

Last week the president lambasted his attorney general for not doing enough to stifle a torrent of leaks over the past six months. On Friday morning Mr Sessions essentially replied: "See? I am doing something!"

What's more, the attorney general served his anti-leak entree with a generous helping of media-bashing, warning that while he respected freedom of the press, he was reviewing when prosecutors could force journalists to reveal their sources - or face criminal sanction.
That's a dish specially crafted for the president's tastes.

Earlier this week, newly minted chief of staff John Kelly reportedly called Mr Sessions and told him that, despite the president's recent swipes, his job was safe. Perhaps Friday's event is part of a larger effort at fence-mending between the commander-in-chief and his former political confidant.

The attorney general will have to deliver results, however. If he can't stop the leaks, it is doubtful the president will be satisfied. And if there's one truth in Washington, it's that the leaks never really stop.

UWDude
08-04-2017, 09:06 PM
Analysis from the BBC link:

Who cares what you, or some ignoramus from the BBC thinks.

I care what people with accurate predictions have said, not losers who continuously predict everything wrong.

timosman
08-04-2017, 09:17 PM
Analysis from the BBC link:

That's a pretty good propaganda. I like it!:cool:

timosman
08-04-2017, 09:20 PM
The leak of the day:


leaks never really stop

NorthCarolinaLiberty
08-04-2017, 09:40 PM
Take a leak.


http://triviahappy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/calvinpeeingsecond.jpg

timosman
08-04-2017, 10:05 PM
The leak of the weak:


The leaks always existed, we just didn't report them. ;)

r3volution 3.0
08-04-2017, 11:23 PM
Has it occurred to anyone that if people are being prosecuted for leaking information...

...the information they leaked must have been true?

One doesn't get prosecuted for "leaking" fiction, you know.

timosman
08-04-2017, 11:32 PM
Has it occurred to anyone that if people are being prosecuted for leaking information...

...the information they leaked must have been true?

One doesn't get prosecuted for "leaking" fiction, you know.

I think you might be confused.

r3volution 3.0
08-04-2017, 11:34 PM
I think you might be confused.

Tell me more. :cool:

UWDude
08-09-2017, 08:20 PM
Has it occurred to anyone that if people are being prosecuted for leaking information...

...the information they leaked must have been true?

One doesn't get prosecuted for "leaking" fiction, you know.

Doesn't matter if it is true or not. Most leaks have been fairly inconsequential. Yet people are still leaking, because they think it might just help "the resistance". Reality Winner, for example, leaked a bunch of useless nonsense... ...she is now going to be prosecuted for it.

Once again, whether it does damage or not is unimportant. Armed Robbery is armed robbery whether you get away with it or not.

angelatc
08-09-2017, 08:57 PM
Has it occurred to anyone that if people are being prosecuted for leaking information...

...the information they leaked must have been true?

One doesn't get prosecuted for "leaking" fiction, you know.

Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden would disagree.

r3volution 3.0
08-10-2017, 11:30 AM
Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden would disagree.

The information they leaked was fictional? ...I don't think so.

angelatc
08-10-2017, 11:49 AM
The information they leaked was fictional? ...I don't think so.

I misread the post - my apologies!

angelatc
08-10-2017, 11:53 AM
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/04/us/politics/jeff-sessions-trump-leaks-attorney-general.html

Trump thrives on chaos. Chaos leads to conflict and leaks are one way a side can try to either discredit the other or get their own point of view out. Another issue is that the leaks have tended to conflict with statements or tweets Trump has made.



With that opening snark, I am assuming you think we totally forgot that Obama literally wiretapped the phones of at least one journalist to try to quash the leaks coming from his administration.

All together now, depending on which side of the aisle you're on:

Either "That was different!" or "Can you imagine the meltdowns if Trump had done that?"