As a talking point, the leak is thin gruel. It's like Comey's "literalist" statement that Trump was not under investigation, when it was known he would be. Not being a criminal target is a meaningless and valueless give.
However, as a means of stirring up chatter, the meaningless point has power. So, I think premature disclosure messes up coordination between events in this Russia Russia Russia" flip the table game. Who benefits is the black hats.
Who could have leaked is anybody in camp Mueller (that includes RR), and anybody in the WH who was privy to the conversation.
Agree. Seems like part of the game (chess) to control the narrative.