“The real scandal here is that classified information is illegally given out by ‘intelligence’ like candy. Very un-American!” | AP Photo Trump likens intel community to Russia in renewed barrage against agencies

President Donald Trump renewed his war of words with his own intelligence community on Wednesday morning, blaming it for leaks that have proven damaging to his administration and likening it to Russia.

Trump’s lashing out at the intelligence community comes as ties between his presidential campaign and the Russian government have come under renewed scrutiny following the resignation of national security adviser Michael Flynn. That resignation, which came less than a month after Trump took office, came with an admission from Flynn that he had misled Vice President Mike Pence about a telephone conversation he had with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. regarding sanctions.


While at least some in the White House knew the truth of Flynn’s conversation with the Russian ambassador for weeks, the former national security adviser’s ouster did not come until partial transcripts of that call were given to The Washington Post. Flynn, who initially said he had not discussed sanctions with the Russian ambassador, wound up walking that denial back, saying that he could not recall if the topic had come up.

Even as they have dealt with the fallout from Flynn’s resignation, Trump and other top White House officials have complained that the bigger story is the national security implications of a leaking intelligence community.

“Information is being illegally given to the failing @nytimes & @washingtonpost by the intelligence community (NSA and FBI?). Just like Russia,” Trump wrote on Twitter on Wednesday morning, adding in a subsequent post that “the real scandal here is that classified information is illegally given out by ‘intelligence’ like candy. Very un-American!”

Trump did not offer any evidence to support his claim that the intelligence community was indeed the source of leaks that fed stories for the Post or The New York Times.

Wednesday’s outburst, which came amid a flurry of tweets complaining about the media and fresh scrutiny on ties between close Trump allies and Russia, is not the first time that the president has attacked the intelligence community.

For months, Trump refused to accept the conclusions of the intelligence community that the Russian government was behind the wave of election-year cyberattacks targeting Democrats, instead suggesting that it might be the Chinese government or “somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds.” He objected particularly strenuously to the intelligence community’s assessment of Russia motive, that the Kremlin had actively sought to aid Trump’s presidential campaign and install him as president.

Trump also erupted when a dossier containing unverified but salacious and compromising information about him made its way into the public via BuzzFeed, which published the dossier in full along with a warning that the information it contained had not been confirmed and contained some errors. Trump blamed the intelligence community for leaking the dossier, which had circulated among members of Congress and the media for weeks, likening the nation’s intelligence apparatus to “Nazi Germany.”

"I win an election easily, a great 'movement' is verified, and crooked opponents try to belittle our victory with FAKE NEWS. A sorry state!" Trump wrote in a flurry of posts last month. "Intelligence agencies should never have allowed this fake news to 'leak' into the public. One last shot at me. Are we living in Nazi Germany?"