Trump praises arrest of ex-Senate committee aide in leaks inquiry

WASHINGTON — President Trump on Friday praised the arrest of a former Senate Intelligence Committee aide who is accused of lying to investigators about his contacts with reporters in an inquiry into leaks of classified information.

The president called the former Senate aide, James A. Wolfe, “a very important leaker.” Mr. Wolfe, the committee’s former director of security, was arrested Thursday at his home in Ellicott City, Md.

As part of its investigation, federal law enforcement officials secretly seized a New York Times reporter’s phone and email records going back several years.

“It could be a terrific thing,” Mr. Trump said of the arrest, speaking to reporters as he left Washington for the Group of Seven summit meeting in Canada.

“I’m a big, big believer in freedom of the press,” Mr. Trump said. “But I’m also a believer in classified information. It has to remain classified.” Mr. Wolfe was not accused of illegally disclosing national security secrets.

It was the first known instance during the Trump administration of the Justice Department going after a reporter’s data.

“Reporters can’t leak. You cannot leak classified information. At the same time, we need freedom of the press. But you cannot leak,” Mr. Trump said to reporters. Previously, Mr. Trump has suggested that reporters should be jailed for publishing classified information.

Mr. Wolfe made his first court appearance on Friday in federal court in Baltimore. Before the proceedings, he quietly reviewed papers with his lawyer, Christian Lassiter, an attorney in the Maryland public defender’s office.

He did not enter a plea and was released on several conditions, including that he turn in his passport, travel only in Maryland and visit the District of Columbia only for legal proceedings. He may not make unauthorized disclosures of classified information. He was scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday in federal court in the District of Columbia.

Mr. Wolfe, a former Army intelligence analyst, stopped performing committee work in December and retired in May.

He worked closely with both Democrats and Republicans in a bipartisan fashion for more than 30 years.