CNN anchor Chris Cuomo defended the illegal leaks aimed at the Trump administration Tuesday morning on CNN’s New Day. He dismissed any possible damage done to national security by these unlawful acts. In an interview with Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), he asked: “You know Marco Rubio was just on. He said I'll tell you what concerns me, it’s not just these reports but their source, the leaks, could be compromising national security, could make foreign leaders not want to work with us. What has come out that has compromised national security or chill a foreign leader?”
Manchin explained: “Well, I guess the old saying that ’loose lips sink ships’ and people are concerned, can they trust us with information, can they trust us with the intel?”
Cuomo was clearly offended by the suggestion that material that helped his network and damaged his enemy in the White House, could be harmful to the country.
CUOMO: Right, but that applies to the President, sir. He's the one that may or may not have leaked sensitive information in the media. Not the media. If not for these leaks, who knows whether or not the White House would have operated on what was going on with Michael Flynn. We wouldn't have heard about these Comey memos, we wouldn’t have heard these conversations with the DNI and the NSA. Are the leaks the problem here?
Manchin went on to urge that leakers not release sensitive material to the press but rather to the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Earlier on the program, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) provided one of the dangers that comes with these leaks:
“And by the way, related to that are these leaks that are coming out. Again, I understand that the public wants to know. But I also think we have an environment now in the Executive Branch where the President and the people around them are potentially cautious or afraid because they don't know what the people -- they don't trust the people around them. They know someone in that room or someone in that building is leaking things to the press, sometimes selectively. So we've got a broader issue here, and that is the ability of the intelligence community to function for its most important client, the President of the United States.”
Co-host Alisyn Camerota quickly changed the subject to possible obstruction of justice committed by the President, upon hearing Rubio’s accurate point.
The media has been doing their best to dismiss any concerns about the leaking of sensitive information, since the information has been harmful to President Trump. However, to deny the harm done by leaks is dishonest. Today former CIA Director John Brennan stated at a House Intelligence Committee hearing: "I think the unauthorized disclosure of classified information at all times hurts the national security, compromises our intelligence capabilities, and needs to be investigated, needs to stop, absolutely."
Leaks of private conversations disrupt the Executive Branch and inhibits their ability to conduct their business, as Senator Rubio pointed out. This is especially true when it comes to the intelligence community. Additionally, by leaking conversations the President and other American officials have with foreign leaders/officials, they are endangering the country’s ability to communicate and gather intelligence from other nations. If someone is concerned with what the President or any other official is doing, they can go to superiors, Congress, or an IG. They should go to other places within the government, not the dishonest media.
As we have seen, the media is completely blowing the information they have received from anonymous sources out of proportion. None of the requests President Trump made to officials were examples of obstructions of justice, even if they were inappropriate. In respect to the sharing of classified information with Russia, we haven’t the slightest clue whether any wrong doing was actually committed. We know National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster has claimed it was “wholly appropriate.” McMaster, of course, is a respected Lt. General in the United States Army.
The bottom line is that the media has an agenda and any information given to them will be spun to fit their narrative.
See below for a more complete transcript of the May 23 interviews:
8:37 AM
CHRIS CUOMO: You know Marco Rubio was just on. He said I'll tell you what concerns me, it’s not just these reports but their source, the leaks, could be compromising national security, could make foreign leaders not want to work with us. What has come out that has compromised national security or chill a foreign leader?
JOE MANCHIN: Well, I guess the old saying that “loose lips sink ships” and people are concerned, can they trust us with information, can they trust us with the intel?
CUOMO: Right, but that applies to the President, sir. He's the one that may or may not have leaked sensitive information in the media. Not the media. If not for these leaks, who knows whether or not the White House would have operated on what was going on with Michael Flynn. We wouldn't have heard about these Comey memos, we wouldn’t have heard these conversations with the DNI and the NSA. Are the leaks the problem here?
MANCHIN: Let me say this to those people who have this information that the so-called leaks are coming from, come and leak it to the intelligence committee. Come and leak it to the professionals, come and leak it to the staff that has the ability to go through the sources to find out if they are credible or not. Don't play them out in the news media, which they are and you all are doing your job and that's exactly what you should be doing. But if they really want to get to the source of the problem and clear this mess up and get some confidence back in the American public that this government can function and protect them, we took an oath. All of us took the same oath. So I would say to all those who have sensitive information come to us. We'd love to have it. If you want to come before us, come before us. If you want to give us the information, give it to us and let us sort it out. But we have a professional staff that can do this job.
(...)
8:23 AM
MARCO RUBIO: And by the way, related to that are these leaks that are coming out. Again, I understand that the public wants to know. But I also think we have an environment now in the Executive Branch where the President and the people around them are potentially cautious or afraid because they don't know what the people -- they don't trust the people around them. They know someone in that room or someone in that building is leaking things to the press, sometimes selectively. So we've got a broader issue here, and that is the ability of the intelligence community to function for its most important client, the President of the United States.
ALISYN CAMEROTA: But is it an obstruction of justice in your mind? If this happened as reported, is it an obstruction of justice?
(...)
