How Trump’s White House Is Upping Its War on Leaks

The Trump administration is hunting for the sources of leaks, even within its inner circle. Newly appointed Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci vowed to get rid of everyone caught leaking information to the press and took a shot at White House Chief of Staff Reince Preibus, telling CNN that “if Reince wants to explain that he’s not a leaker, let him do that.” So far, the Trump administration has brought charges against one alleged leaker, a National Security Agency contractor arrested on June 5 for passing classified information to a media organization.

Maybe in its bluster, but not really in substance. Trump is largely following up on what his predecessor, Barack Obama, did with zeal -- cracking down on people who illegally passed on information, even reporters who published it. Under Obama, nine people were charged under the Espionage Act with passing information to media outlets, and journalists from Fox News, ABC and the Associated Press were ensnared in leak prosecutions. The Espionage Act, which has been around since 1917, wasn’t used against alleged leakers of classified information until 1973, and it was used in that way just twice more before 2009.