WASHINGTON — Three high-ranking senators are asking a federal judge for leniency on behalf of a former Senate intelligence committee staffer who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.

The letter from Democrats Mark Warner and Dianne Feinstein and Republican Richard Burr was included Tuesday in a sentencing memo filed by James Wolfe’s attorneys.

Wolfe was the committee’s longtime director of security. Prosecutors said Wolfe told a reporter in October 2017 that he had served someone with a subpoena involving the potential ties between Russia and the Trump campaign and later lied to FBI agents about the exchange.

He admitted he didn’t tell agents the truth. He wasn’t accused of leaking classified information.

The senators say there’s no “public utility in depriving him of his freedom.”

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