President Donald Trump on Friday reacted to news that a former Senate Intelligence Committee staffer was arrested on allegations of leaking classified information to the press, suggesting the charges “could be a terrific thing.”
“It’s very interesting, they caught a leaker in a very important — it could be a very important leaker, so it’s very interesting,” he told reporters before leaving the White House for the G-7 in Canada.
“It could be a terrific thing,” he continued. “I know, I believe strongly in freedom of the press. I’m a big, big believer in freedom of the press. But I’m also a believer in classified information. It has to remain classified. That includes Comey and his band of thieves who leaked classified information all over the place. So I’m a very big believer in freedom of the press, but I’m also a believer that you cannot leak classified information.”
Former Senate Intelligence Committee staffer James Wolfe, was arrested on Thursday evening by a federal grand jury in Washington on three counts of making false statement to the FBI about his contacts with reporters. He allegedly provided federal investigators with false denials about his contacts with three reporters and falsely claimed he did not share sensitive Intelligence Committee information with two of them, according to the indictment.
Wolfe is set to appear in federal court in Washington, D.C. on Friday.