White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany condemned the members of the intelligence community who leaked information about the Russian government’s bounties on U.S. troops.
“The front page of the New York Times is not the venue for discussing classified information. The White House podium is not the venue for discussing classified information. We are here today having this discussion because of an irresponsible anonymous leak to the New York Times,” McEnany said.
McEnany said that the recent leak claiming that President Trump had been briefed by the intelligence community about the Russian government offering bounties to Taliban fighters for the killing of U.S. troops made it more difficult for the various intelligence officials to come to a consensus about the validity of the information. She also claimed that the leak could harm the source of the information and prevent future sources from coming forward to help the U.S. government.
“Who’s going to want to be a source or an asset if they know that their identity could be disclosed? Which allies will want to share information with us if they know that some rogue intelligence officer can go splash that information on the front page of a major U.S. newspaper?” she asked.
McEnany noted that the Obama administration issued an average of 39 criminal referrals per year because of leaked information. The Trump administration has issued an average of 104 criminal referrals per year. McEnany said the attempts to undermine Trump from the intelligence community harm all citizens.
“To the anonymous sources who leak classified information, you should know this: You may seek to undermine our president, but, in fact, you undermine our country’s safety and our country’s security,” McEnany said.
The Trump administration has denied that Trump was ever briefed on the information included in the New York Times report. Trump said he was not briefed because the intelligence community did not find the information to be credible.
