- Title: Attorney General Sessions: "Culture of leaking" must stop
- Date: 4th August 2017
- Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (AUGUST 4, 2017) (REUTERS) WIDE U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL JEFF SESSIONS WALKING UP TO PODIUM (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL JEFF SESSIONS, SAYING: "We are taking a stand. This culture of leaking must stop." WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL JEFF SESSIONS, SAYING: "Since January, the Department has more than tripled the number of active leak investigations compared to the number pending at the end of the last Administration. And we have already charged four people with unlawfully disclosing classified material or with concealing contacts with foreign intelligence officers." WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL JEFF SESSIONS, SAYING: "So, today, I have this message for the intelligence community: The Department of Justice is open for business. And I have this warning for would-be leakers: Don't do it." WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL JEFF SESSIONS, SAYING: "I have listened to career investigators and prosecutors about how to most successfully investigate and prosecute these matters. At their suggestion, one of the things we are doing is reviewing policies affecting media subpoenas." ZOOM OUT AS SESSIONS LEAVES PODIUM AND DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE DAN COATS WALKS UP TO MICROPHONE WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE DAN COATS, SAYING: "In the last several years the U.S. Intelligence Community has experienced some of the worst compromises of classified information in our nation’s history. This disclosures have been disseminated to both the media and our foreign adversaries. Let me be absolutely clear this morning. These disclosures have resulted in a major threat to our national security. They endanger the men and women of the intelligence community, the armed services and those who serve overseas." WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE DAN COATS, SAYING: "These national security breaches do not just originate in the intelligence community, they come from a wide range of sources within the government, including the executive branch and including the Congress." WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE DAN COATS, SAYING: "And most importantly, as I have previously noted, these unauthorized disclosures endanger the safety and security of Americans across the country," WHITE FLASH COATS AND SESSIONS LEAVING NEWS CONFERENCE
- Embargoed: 18th August 2017 16:42
- Keywords: Trump Sessions Attorney General leaks White House
- Location: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES
- City: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0016SQSFNR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, taking up an issue that has infuriated President Donald Trump, went on the attack against a "culture of leaking" on Friday (August 4), saying such leaks were hampering the government's ability to protect the country.
The Justice Department has tripled the number of investigations into unauthorized leaks of classified information and four people have already been charged, Sessions said.
Sessions did not immediately give the identities of the four people charged, but said they had been charged with unlawfully disclosing classified information or concealing contacts with foreign intelligence officers.
Trump has repeatedly voiced anger over a steady stream of leaks to the media about him and his administration since he took office in January. Some have been related to probes into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, others have concerned infighting in the White House. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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