Trump Condemns ‘Alleged Leaks,’ After Complaints From Britain

5/25/17
 
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from The New York Times,
5/25/17:

President Trump condemned “leaks of sensitive information,” responding on Thursday to a complaint by Britain’s prime minister, Theresa May, over disclosures of details from the investigation into Britain’s deadliest terrorist attack since 2005.

“The alleged leaks coming out of government agencies are deeply troubling,” Mr. Trump said in a statement. “These leaks have been going on for a long time, and my administration will get to the bottom of this. The leaks of sensitive information pose a grave threat to our national security.”

He added: “I am asking the Department of Justice and other relevant agencies to launch a complete review of this matter, and, if appropriate, the culprit should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Mr. Trump has angrily criticized leaks from his government, many of them revealing information that has been embarrassing or politically damaging to him. In his first month in office, he called for a Justice Department investigation into what he said were “criminal leaks.” Just as he left Washington to start his nine-day overseas trip and again while he has been traveling, more leaks disclosed details about his private conversations.

But two dimensions of the latest controversy are new: The disclosures in this case are about a terrorism investigation led by a foreign ally, and the British government has brought its complaints to a receptive audience.

In a statement, Mrs. May’s office said she would bring up the matter at a NATO gathering in Brussels on Thursday evening and would “make clear to President Trump that intelligence that is shared between our law enforcement agencies must remain secure.”

In what appears to be another effort to assuage British anger, Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson will go to London on Friday to meet with Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson “in an expression of U.K.-U.S. solidarity following the terrorist attack in Manchester earlier this week,” the British Foreign Office announced.

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