“A top Republican senator called the number of leaks during the first several months of President Trump’s tenure “completely out of control.”
Sen. Ron Johnson, the chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, told Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo that there were dozens of leaks that threatened national security in those days and argued they were part of a scheme to “frustrate and sabotage” the Trump administration.
The leaks in that time period have taken on renewed significance as Attorney General William Barr has appointed multiple U.S. attorneys to review politically sensitive investigations, particularly the Russia investigation and the case of former national security adviser Michael Flynn. As Democrats and former Obama administration officials shrug off what they have pegged as a toothless, manufactured controversy, Trump and his allies are pushing claims under the “Obamagate” banner that former President Barack Obama and his team schemed to undermine the Trump administration.
“A leak a day, 125 leaks in the first 126 days, and 62 of these leaks threatened national security, by President Obama’s own definition of that, because they were concerned about that as well,” Johnson said on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures.
“They had eight leaks of a similar nature in Obama vs. the Bush administration, about nine. They had 62. President Trump had 62 that threatened national security. It was completely out of control,” the Wisconsin Republican added before taking a swipe at the media for their role in disclosing sensitive information.
Claiming reporters were either “duped or complicit,” the senator said there appeared to be a dearth of self-reflection in the journalism field.” (Read more: Washington Examiner, 5/31/2020) (Archive)