Attorney General Jeff Sessions has announced that the FBI has formed a new team focused on investigating potential leaks to the press. During a press conference on Friday, Sessions said that leak investigations have tripled since President Donald Trump took office. Civil liberties groups criticized Sessions’s remarks. Ben Wizner of the ACLU said, “A crackdown on leaks is a crackdown on the free press and on democracy as a whole.” We speak with John Kiriakou, the former CIA analyst who exposed the Bush-era torture program and became the only official jailed in connection with it.
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JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Attorney General Jeff Sessions has announced an administration-wide crackdown on leaks, announcing the FBI has formed a new team specifically focused on investigating potential leaks to the press. During a press conference on Friday, Sessions announced leak investigations have tripled since President Trump took office.
ATTORNEY GENERAL JEFF SESSIONS: So, today, I have this message for our friends in the intelligence community: The Department of Justice is open for business. And I have this warning for would-be leakers: Don’t do it. … I have listened to our career investigators, FBI agents and others, and our 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.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: On Twitter, President Trump praised Sessions’ speech, writing, quote, “After many years of LEAKS going on in Washington, it is great to see the A.G. taking action! For National Security, the tougher the better!” unquote. Trump’s new chief of staff, John Kelly, also warned staff over the weekend about the leaks to the press — although his warning itself was promptly leaked.
AMY GOODMAN: Civil liberties and press freedom groups criticized Sessions’ remarks. Ben Wizner of the ACLU said, quote, “A crackdown on leaks is a crackdown on the free press…