No more love for WikiLeaks from Trump administration

WASHINGTON — When WikiLeaks published the hacked emails of Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager last year, then U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump had one thing to say: “I love WikiLeaks.”

But there wasn’t a lot of love from the Trump administration Wednesday, after WikiLeaks published thousands of documents described as secret files about CIA hacking tools.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer answered questions on the latest WikiLeaks disclosure by saying that leaks of national security or classified information should have everybody “outraged.”

“This is the kind of disclosure that undermines our country, our security and our well-being,” he said.

The hacking tools described in the documents published Tuesday by WikiLeaks are used to break into computers, mobile phones and even smart TVs from such companies as Apple, Google, Microsoft and Samsung. The documents describe clandestine methods for bypassing or defeating encryption, antivirus tools and other protective security features intended to keep the private information of citizens and corporations safe from prying eyes. U.S. government employees, including Trump, use many of the same products and Internet services purportedly compromised by the tools.

Spicer wouldn’t confirm the authenticity of the hacks, saying it is not the government’s policy to do so.

After WikiLeaks released the hacked emails of Clinton campaign manager John Podesta last summer, Trump noted: “It’s amazing how nothing is secret today!”

Spicer said there is a “big difference” between disclosing Podesta’s private emails “and his undermining of Hillary Clinton and his thoughts on her on a personal nature, and the leaking of classified information.”