Senate ‘liar’ bust

Ex-Intel guy spilled sensitive info: feds

A former Senate Intelligence Committee staffer has been indicted on charges of lying to the FBI about contacts with reporters — as it emerged that emails and phone records of a journalist with whom he had a personal relationship were seized amid the probe.

James A. Wolfe was indicted on three counts, including for allegedly making false statements to the FBI about providing reporters with sensitive info on matters before the committee.

The indictment details text messages apparently sent between Wolfe and reporter Ali Watkins before the publication of her 2017 BuzzFeed story about former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page’s contacts with Russians.

Watkins, who also worked for Politico, is now a reporter for The New York Times, which said she had a romantic relationship for three years with Wolfe, 57, that prompted the FBI to contact her.

Wolfe, a career Senate staffer, claims he was not a source of information for Watkins. The Times, too, said the reporter did not use him as a source.

Although Wolfe is not charged with disclosing classified information, prosecutors say he was in regular contact with multiple journalists who covered the committee, including meeting them at restaurants, in bars, private residences and in a Senate office building.

Prosecutors say he lied about his relationship with Watkins until he was confronted with a photo of him together with her.

In a joint statement, Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr (R-NC) and Vice Chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.) said, “While the charges do not appear to include anything related to the mishandling of classified information, the committee takes this matter extremely seriously.”

The arrest comes as President Trump complains about constant leaks.

“The so-called leaks coming out of the White House are a massive overexaggeration put out by the Fake News Media in order to make us look as bad as possible,” he tweeted on May 15.