Dem senator: Justice ‘weaponizing’ leak laws

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) on Monday accused the Trump administration of “weaponizing” the Justice Department in its pursuit of leakers.

Blumenthal said the Justice Department should not go after reporters with its investigations and warned that the department should not be used “for personal ends.”

“I’m very concerned that the Department of Justice is weaponizing for its personal and political ends, and specifically for the White House’s purposes,” Blumenthal said on CNN’s “New Day.” “And politicizing the Department of Justice for personal ends, I think, is a disservice to the law.”

{mosads}Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Friday that his agency will be reviewing its policies on subpoenaing media outlets that publish sensitive information as it seeks to crack down on leaks.

Blumenthal said this decision would have “a chilling effect on the press, and on whistleblowers, and on information that doesn’t involve classified data or disclosures but in fact maybe just embarrassing or unwelcome.”

The Judiciary Committee member said it is fine if the government takes action against people providing classified information to the press.

“Government officials who break the law by disclosing classified information, endangering national security, and violating the criminal law certainly should be pursued and prosecuted,” he said, adding that they should go after “government officials, not the reporters.”

Leaks have been a frequent occurrence in the Trump administration and have increasingly drawn the White House’s ire.

Transcripts of President Trump’s calls with the leaders of Mexico and Australia leaked last week. The transcripts showed Trump talking candidly and sometimes seeming to back off his campaign promise about making Mexico pay for a border wall.