Sessions: Convictions likely needed to end government leaks

Attorney General Jeff Sessions indicated Thursday evening that the Trump administration would pursue criminal charges to end alleged leaks from U.S. agencies.

“I expect that we’ll get to the bottom of some of this,” Sessions said during an interview on Fox News’s “The O’Reilly Factor” when asked if he would pursue any indictments.

“This is not right. We’ve never seen this kind of leaking,” Sessions continued. “It’s almost as if people think they have a right to violate the law.

“This has got to end, and it will probably take some convictions to put an end to it.”

{mosads}President Trump said in February that he had directed Sessions to “look into the leaks” following published accounts of his private phone calls with world leaders and other conversations.

Trump slammed the intelligence community at the time for leaks that led to his decision to ask for the resignation of his first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, after it was revealed that Flynn had spoken with Russia’s ambassador about sanctions despite his denials. 

“From intelligence, papers are being leaked, things are being leaked; it’s criminal action. It’s a criminal act, and it’s been going on for a long time before me, but now it’s really going on,” Trump said at the time.

Questions have swirled in recent weeks after the GOP chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said he had seen information that the U.S. intelligence community incidentally collected information on members of Trump’s transition team. 

The New York Times reported Thursday that two White House officials helped the chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), acquire the information.