NYT Reporter Blamed Leaks on ‘Trumpster Lawyers,’ but Records Show It Was Probably Her Boyfriend

Well, this is an interesting story. James Wolfe, the director for security on the Senate Intelligence Committee, was arrested yesterday for lying to the FBI concerning his contacts with three reporters. He allegedly shared classified information with them. One of those leaks involved Carter Page, Trump’s former foreign policy adviser, who was issued a subpoena by the committee for testimony. The FBI has been investigating why the government has had more leaks than the Iraqi Navy for months, and they also seized years of records from New York Times reporter Ali Watkins, who had been in a relationship with Wolfe. The bureau was curious as to how she knew that Russian intelligence agents tried to recruit Page as an asset in 2013 (via NYT):

A former Senate Intelligence Committee aide was arrested on Thursday in an investigation of classified information leaks where prosecutors also secretly seized years’ worth of a New York Times reporter’s phone and email records.

The former aide, James A. Wolfe, 57, was charged with lying repeatedly to investigators about his contacts with three reporters. According to the authorities, Mr. Wolfe made false statements to the F.B.I. about providing two of them with sensitive information related to the committee’s work. He denied to investigators that he ever gave classified material to journalists, the indictment said.

Mr. Wolfe, the Intelligence Committee’s director of security, was slated to appear before a federal judge on Friday in Washington. Reached on Thursday evening before his arrest, Mr. Wolfe declined to comment.

[…]

Court documents describe Mr. Wolfe’s communications with four reporters — including Ms. Watkins — using encrypted messaging applications. It appeared that the F.B.I. was investigating how Ms. Watkins learned that Russian spies in 2013 had tried to recruit Carter Page, a former Trump foreign policy adviser. She published an article for BuzzFeed News on April 3, 2017, about the attempted recruitment of Mr. Page in which he confirmed the contacts.

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