Partisan fireworks ignited by case
Indicted ex-Senate staffer charged with lying in leak probe
WASHINGTON — The former security director for the Senate intelligence committee made an initial court appearance Friday after his indictment on charges that he lied to federal investigators probing a leak involving a former campaign aide to President Donald Trump.
The indictment of James Wolfe, 57 and a resident of Ellicott City, indicates that FBI agents were trying to determine how reporters learned that Carter Page, the former Trump campaign aide, had contacts with Russian intelligence operatives.
The contacts were revealed to the Senate committee by law enforcement officials in classified documents, according to the indictment, which was unsealed late Thursday after his arrest.
On Friday afternoon, Wolfe appeared before Magistrate Judge J. Mark Coulson at the U.S. District Court in Baltimore. He was represented in court by a public defender and requested a court-appointed lawyer.
By Friday, the case had already begun setting off partisan fireworks. The Breitbart news site and other conservative media dubbed Wolfe a “deep-state leaker,” saying the charges against him bolstered their theory that a cabal of government officials conspired to go after Trump and members of his campaign team after he won the presidency. James Wolfe formerly served as director of security with the Senate intelligence committee. He retired in May.
Trump, speaking to reporters at the White House before departing for the G-7 summit in Quebec, called the case “very important — it’s a very important leaker.”
“It could be a terrific thing,” Trump said. “I’m a big, big believer in freedom of the press. But I’m also a believer in classified information has to remain classified.”
The extent to which the case involves classified information is uncertain.
The chairman of the intelligence committee, Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and the panel’s ranking Democrat, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, issued a joint statement noting that “the charges do not appear to include anything related to the mishandling of classified information” but adding that “the committee takes this matter extremely seriously.”
The two said the news of Wolfe’s arrest was “disappointing,” noting that he had worked on the committee staff for more than 30 years, under both Democratic and Republican majorities.
The intelligence committee has “fully cooperated” with investigators since learning about the case “late last year,” they said.
The case took on additional sizzle because one of the reporters to whom Wolfe is alleged to have provided information, Ali Watkins, now works for The New York Times — a favorite target of Trump’s — and had a romantic relationship with Wolfe, the paper reported.
Federal law enforcement officials seized several years’ worth of Watkins’ email and phone records in connection with the Wolfe investigation, The New York Times reported Thursday. The seized material does not include the contents of Watkins’ emails, but does include customer records from Verizon and Google covering two email accounts and a phone she used, the newspaper reported.
The seizures would mark the first time that the Justice Department under Trump is known to have authorized prosecutors to obtain a reporter’s records as part of a leak investigation.
Federal prosecutors obtained reporters’ records in several cases under President Barack Obama, but the Justice Department in Obama’s second term adopted rules designed to shield reporters in many circumstances.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has said the Justice Department may change some of the rules, which some say have hindered investigations.
Wolfe officially retired from the committee staff last month.
Wolfe must also surrender his passport by Monday, cannot travel beyond Maryland except for his court appearance in Washington, D.C., and must check in with his pretrial office.