President Donald Trump is turning up the heat on leakers who are spilling secrets about his White House aides and his allies.

Trump says he talked to the Department of Justice about the 'criminal' activity and declared during a news conference that his administration will be 'looking into that very seriously.'

The president vowed in an early morning tweet Thursday that trouble-makers won't get away with the misdeeds.

'The spotlight has finally been put on the low-life leakers! They will be caught!'

Trump continued to keep the focus on 'illegal' leaking at a last-minute press conference on Thursday afternoon.

The president suggested from the White House's East Room that internal investigations were underway to ferret out the people who are passing out damaging information to the press. The leaks have contributed to a tumultuous start to his presidency.

L IS FOR LEAKER: President Donald Trump is turning up the heat on leakers who are spilling secrets about his White House aides and his allies. Trump says he talked to the Department of Justice about the 'criminal' activity

With Jeff Sessions at the helm of DOJ, Trump said he expects the leaking to end.

'I've gone to all of the folks in charge of the various agencies and we're, I've actually called the Justice Department to look into the leaks,' Trump said. 'Those are criminal leaks. They are put out by people either in agencies, I think you'll see it stopping because now we have our people in.'

His complaints follow constant reports about White House infighting and a series of disclosures about the activities of ex-National Security advisor Mike Flynn, who quit his post after revelations about his Russia contacts that were based on intercepted communications.

The New York Times also ran a report this week accusing Trump's campaign of having contact with Russian officials before the election.

'Leaking, and even illegal classified leaking, has been a big problem in Washington for years,' Trump wrote in another tweet this morning. 'Failing @nyTimes (and others) must apologize!'

Trump lashed out at reporters over and over again during his lunchtime news conference, saying specifically of the Washington Post, another outlet leakers are going to, and New York Times, 'You've gotta stop it, that's why it's a criminal penalty.'

'What happens when I'm dealing with the problems in the Middle East? Are you folks going to be reporting all of that very, very confidential information, very important, very -- you know, I mean at the highest level?' he asked. 'I don't want classified information getting out to the public and in a way that was almost a test.'

The Times and other outlets reported Wednesday that Trump's campaign was in frequent communication with the Russians through the course of his campaign. U.S. intelligence has already said Russia was behind election hacking.

It was also revealed that Flynn was questioned by the FBI immediately after the Trump administration took office, and that the former acting attorney general warned the White House counsel about Flynn's activities.

Trump called the reporting on the contacts with Russia a 'scam' the media is 'building so that you don't talk about the real subject which is illegal leaks.'

'Russia is a ruse. I have nothing to do with Russia. Haven't made a phone call to Russia in years. Don't speak to people from Russia. Not that I wouldn't. I just have nobody to speak to,' he said

The New York Times reported that Trump will tap Stephen Feinberg, co-founder of Cerberus Capital Management, to lead a broad review of intelligence agencies.

Trump said Thursday he doesn't want the review to extend beyond the government.

With Dan Coats as director of national intelligence, Mike Pompeo at the CIA and James Comey heading the FBI, he said, 'I hope that we'll be able to straighten that out without using anybody else.'

Feinberg is a 'very talented man, very successful man and he's offered his services, he said. 'It's something we may take advantage of. But I don't think we're need that at all because of the fact that you know, I think that we are gonna be able to straighten it out very easily on its own.'

WARNING SHOT: Trump said the spotlight has 'finally' been put on leakers, after he called intention to those who put out information about his resigned national security advisor, Mike Flynn

Trump said that 'illegal' leaking has been a problem for years and confirmed that he's looking at a broad review of intelligence services

Trump is to meet with Attorney General Jeff Sessions Thursday. Matt House, a spokesman for Democratic Senator Charles Schumer tweeted Wednesday: 'This meeting would be a lot less suspicious if the AG followed DOJ guidelines and recused himself.'

Congressional Democrats are calling on Sessions to remove himself from investigations related to Russia because of his close campaign ties to Trump.

He was a frequent surrogate and confidant for the president on the campaign trail.

Sessions' department oversees the FBI, which Trump has identified as a possible source of the leaks, along with the NSA, in his tweets.

The White House has tried to get the media to do the dirty work for them, urging reporters to force their anonymous sources to go on the record.

'FAKE NEWS media, which makes up stories and "sources," is far more effective than the discredited Democrats - but they are fading fast!' Trump said in a tweet Thursday morning.

Trump clarified later in the day that he believes 'the leaks are real' - you know what they said, you saw it - but the 'news is fake because so much of the news is fake.'

Trump went after two of his favorite targets, the media and Democrats, on Thursday in tweets and at a news conference

On Wednesday, while appearing with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump blasted leakers and defended Flynn, saying it was a 'really a sad thing that he was treated so badly'

Former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, shown last week in the same room where Trump spoke Wednesday, resigned Monday night following a steady media drumbeat that Trump says was fueled by selective leaks from inside the U.S. Intelligence Community

Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, and Rep. Bob Goodlatte, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, have called on DOJ's inspector general to probe leaks, which it called a 'serious concern.'

On Wednesday, while appearing with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump blasted leakers and defended Flynn, saying it was a 'really a sad thing that he was treated so badly.'

He pointed to the 'criminal act' of leaking information.

On Wednesday, Trump tweeted that 'classified information is illegally given out by 'intelligence' like candy. Very un-American!'

At his news conference Thursday, a reporter confronted Trump with his own encouragement of Wikileaks to release damaging information about his political opponents. Trump said that the two acts were not the same.

'In one case, you're talking about highly classified information. In the other case, you're talking about John Podesta saying bad things about the boss,' Trump said of Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman.