White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said President Donald Trump is “extremely concerned” about WikiLeaks’ publication of CIA documents, though he declined to confirm the authenticity of the leaked materials.
“I think he is very concerned about the allegations that are out there in terms of what may or may not happen,” Spicer said. “It is an allegation, it is something that we are not going to confirm at this time, but as you can imagine from the President’s previous comments, he is extremely concerned about this.”
Spicer’s comments came as federal officials launched a criminal investigation into WikiLeaks’ publication of documents allegedly detailing CIA hacking operations, several US officials told CNN on Wednesday.
Spicer also pushed back on comparisons between Trump’s praise of WikiLeaks’ release of private emails maintained by Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and the latest leak of CIA documents, some of which US officials have corroborated the authenticity of.
Spicer said there is a “massive, massive difference” between the leak of personal emails and that of classified information.
Trump repeatedly drew on emails leaked by WikiLeaks during the 2016 campaign to attack Clinton, and effusively praised the group, proclaiming on the stump: “I love WikiLeaks!”
By contrast, Spicer said the group’s latest leak should “concern every single American in terms of the impact it has on our national security.”
“This should be a major concern to people in terms of the leaks that are coming out and the desire to get to the bottom of them,” Spicer added. “Everybody should be outraged.”
Spicer also appeared to tie WikiLeaks’ dump of CIA documents to Trump’s unsubstantiated claim that President Barack Obama tapped the candidate’s phones at Trump Tower, suggesting the CIA cyberhacking methods purportedly disclosed by WikiLeaks were tied to the Obama administration.