Trump Calls for an End to Leaks of Classified Information in the Media

Donald Trump, the President of the United States, once again protested against the leaking of classified information in the media and called for it to stop. He also accused the New York Times of undermining U.S. efforts to kill Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS. On Saturday, July 31, in a series of tweets, Trump first referred to a recent report by the Washington Post regarding Jeff Sessions' contacts with the Russian ambassador in the U.S., calling it 'illegal.' The Washington Post published a report on Friday citing current and former U.S. intelligence officials, stating that Jeff Sessions had two contacts with Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador in Washington, during the recent presidential campaign, and the two discussed issues related to Donald Trump's campaign. Jeff Sessions was a supporter of Trump during the election and became Attorney General after Trump's victory. He had previously confirmed his contacts with the Russian ambassador and recused himself from investigations into possible Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election. However, he assured that his conversations were not about Trump's campaign. The Washington Post stated that U.S. intelligence agencies monitoring communications of senior Russian officials in the U.S. and Russia intercepted the conversations between Sessions and Kislyak, revealing that one of the topics discussed was Trump's positions on issues related to Russia and the future of Washington-Moscow relations under Trump's administration. In response to this report, Trump tweeted: 'Another leak of information by the Washington Post, this time against Jeff Sessions. This illegal leak of information, like the information regarding [James] Comey, must stop.' In other tweets, he defended his son, Donald Trump Jr., who has faced controversy over his meeting with a Russian lawyer during the campaign. Donald Trump Jr. recently released emails exchanged with the Russian lawyer, showing that she requested a meeting and claimed that Russia had information that could harm Hillary Clinton in the election. Trump Jr. welcomed this offer. However, Trump reacted to criticisms surrounding this event by tweeting that his son had honestly shared his emails with the media and officials, while Hillary Clinton deleted 33,000 of her emails. The deleted emails of Hillary Clinton pertain to her time as Secretary of State, but she claims they were personal. Another tweet from Trump on Friday that attracted significant attention contained accusations against the New York Times. Trump wrote that the newspaper had undermined U.S. efforts to kill Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and that the media's agenda was essentially against U.S. national security. His statement did not provide further details, but on Friday, Fox News aired comments from General Raymond Thomas, a senior U.S. Army commander, stating that in 2015, the U.S. obtained valuable information about the location of the ISIS leader by capturing the wife of the ISIS oil minister, which leaked in a prominent American newspaper, allowing Baghdadi to escape.