leaks coming out of the white house
Leaks are at times and depending on what's leaked, are worth investigating. It's not the only thing worth investigating. Moreover, some leaks qualify for
"whistleblower" status/protection, and as go that class of leaks, there's really nothing to make of it.
As goes the matter of leaking as an act, as a tool,
we know that Trump posed as his own publicist and "leaked" information about the nature of Trump's financial status. We also know that
Trump has on numerous occasions fabricated information and/or advanced factually inaccurate and/or misrepresentative information, and he's done so regarding matters great and small. (
This Week In Trump's 'Alternative Facts')
I note that because it shows us that ethical/moral perspicacity and Trump are, at best, infrequent bedfellows. It also indicates that he has no particular disapproval of leaking as a tool, most especially when he thinks it will aid an end he seeks to achieve. Because we know that leaking isn't beneath Trump, and that he's done it himself, we cannot discount the possibility that he is the authorizer/source of some of the leaks about which he's complained.
Trump has remarked about the leaking of classified information from within his White House. Frankly, it's not clear to me what classified information has been leaked. It's clear that embarrassing, at time salacious, information has been disclosed. That classified info has been leaked is, to me, not nearly so certain. For instance, I'm aware that the fact that Mike Flynn had conversations with Russian officials. It's not clear to me that the content of those conversations was classified.
Trump's claim that the information disclosed about Flynn's conversations with the Russians was in fact classified information is a strange one.
- If the information Flynn discussed with the Russians was indeed classified, why was Flynn discussing it with the Russians? The Russians are not and were not at the time U.S. allies; thus there'd be no basis for Flynn to discuss classified information with the Russians for at the time, Flynn was not an agent of the U.S. government and would thus have had no authority to have such conversation with Russians.
- If the nature of the conversations Flynn had with the Russians did not include classified information, Trump's claim about the classified nature of the discussions cannot be true.
- If the nature of the conversation topics discussed between Flynn and the Russians was unlawful, but not classified, Trump cannot legally veil that fact by asserting they discussed classified information.
Now, it's my understanding that Flynn's conversations involved the sanctions the U.S. has levied against Russia. Flynn had not been emplaced in the office of National Security Advisor, and
he was not a government employee at the time of the conversation(s). That raises the question: Why was
Flynn, who was not then an agent of the U.S. government, discussing U.S. foreign policy with any Russian and why did he lie about having done so? Whatever be the answer, the fact remains that disclosure of the fact that the conversations took place cannot possibly be classified information. As far as I know, the specific details of the conversation about the sanctions have not been disclosed.
As I sit here typing, I cannot find anything that indicates classified information has been leaked.
