Trump’s Obsession With Leaks

In one of the more astounding declarations of his presidential campaign, then-candidate Donald Trump said at a Florida news conference last July that he hoped Russian intelligence services had hacked Hillary Clinton’s email, and he urged them to leak what they stole. “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” he said. “I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”

Once he was elected, he changed his tune, of course. Trump’s preoccupation with leaks and leakers has become a defining theme of his presidency—­one lately intertwined with his bizarre public berating of Attorney General Jeff Sessions. At a July 25 White House ceremony with the prime minister of Lebanon, Trump said: “I want the attorney general to be much tougher on the leaks from intelligence agencies, which are leaking like rarely have they ever leaked before, at a very important level.”