Ex-Senate aide charged with lying about reporter contacts
WASHINGTON — A former employee of the Senate intelligence committee has been arrested on charges of lying to the FBI about contacts with multiple reporters and was expected in federal court Friday in Baltimore.
James A. Wolfe, the long- time director of security for the committee — one of multiple congressional panels investigating potential ties between Russia and the Trump campaign — was indicted on three false statement counts Thursday evening after prosecutors say he misled agents about his relationships with reporters.
Though Wolfe is not charged with disclosing clas- sified 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. He is also accused of maintaining a yearslong personal relationship with one reporter, which prosecutors say he lied about until being con- fronted with a photograph of him and the journalist.
On Friday morning, Pres- ident Donald Trump said the Justice Department had caught “a very important leaker” and said it could be a “terrific thing.” He said he was still getting details on the case.
“I’m a big, big believer in freedom of the press,” Trump told reporters before depart- ing for a trip to Canada. “But I’m also a believer in clas- sified information. Has to remain classified.”
Wolfe’s indictment was announced soon after The New York Times revealed that the Justice Department had secretly seized the phone records and emails of one of its journalists, Ali Watkins, as part of the leak investi- gation involving Wolfe. The will depend on the nature mation and was asked, in a newspaper said Watkins was of the investigation and the written questionnaire, if he approached by the FBI about scope of any charges.” had had contact with any of a three-year relationship she Wolfe, 57, of Ellicott City, the piece’s three authors. He had had with Wolfe when she Maryland, was expected to checked “no” even though worked at other publications. appear in U.S. District Court records obtained by the govThe newspaper also said that Friday afternoon in Mary- ernment show that he had Watkins said Wolfe was not land’s Northern Division in been in communication with a source of classified infor- Baltimore. It wasn’t immedi- one of them. mation for her during their ately clear whether he had He also said that though relationship. a lawyer. he saw journalists every day
In a statement Thursday The criminal case arises as part of his job, he never night, Watkins’ attorney, Mark from a December 2017 FBI spoke to them about anything MacDougall, said: “It’s always interview with Wolfe in which related to the committee. disconcerting when a jour- he denied having relationIn a separate instance, nalist’s telephone records ships with journalists or disWolfe used the encrypted are obtained by the Juscussing committee business messaging app Signal to tice Department — through with them. inform a female journalist a grand jury subpoena or At one point, he was prehe had served a person with a other legal process. Whether sented with a news article subpoena in the Russia invesit was really necessary here containing classified infor- tigation, the government says.