Posted on 03/01/2017 3:28:24 PM PST by markomalley
The chief of counterintelligence at the Department of Justice (DOJ) has been accused of leaking information to the press in a new report, causing a firestorm on Twitter, but the DOJ insists the claims are inaccurate.
Twitter personality and political commentator Mike Cernovich released a report Tuesday, stating that sources confirmed to him that Obama holdover David Laufman is the source of the national security leaks.
The leaks have wrongly been blamed on the FBI, sources tell me, leading to a morale issue with the agency, a source reportedly told Cernovich.
The report further stated that Laufman has the authority to end investigations into leaks, which he has been exercising.
But DOJ spokesman Marc Raimondi told The Daily Caller News Foundation that the report is false and is full of errors.
I have to say, I read that report. and I was not able to find anything in there that was accurate, Raimondi said. [Laufman] is not an appointee, hes a career employee. So, hes not a holdover. He was hired as a career employee, and he is in our counter espionage section, and Im not aware of anything that would lead me to believe that anything in that story was accurate.
It kinda came out of left-field. They didnt contact me for any comment. There are certainly inaccuracies in it and Im not aware of any outlets that are looking at it and thinking its accurate.
Raimondi vehemently denied the allegation that Laufman was the source of the leaks.
There is no truth to that, he told TheDCNF.
President Donald Trump has found himself in a battle with the intelligence community, but he hasnt been clear on from where the leaks inside his administration are coming up until now.
In a recent interview with Fox & Friends, Trump said he thinks people loyal to President Barack Obama have orchestrated the leaks.
No, I think that President Obama is behind it because his people are certainly behind it, Trump said. And some of the leaks possibly come from that group, which are really serious because they are very bad in terms of national security. But I also understand that is politics. In terms of him being behind things, thats politics. And it will probably continue.
These leaks have had very real consequences. National security adviser Michael Flynn was forced to resign after records of his call with the Russian ambassador were leaked to the press.
And by the way, here are some records on Laufmann from Open Secrets:
First, his individual contributions:
Second, his contributions as a lobbyist:
By the way, his LInkedin profile
Dear DOJ, how do u know he is not the leaker?
If he is not the leaker, who is?
Any problems caused by any Obama appointee is TRUMPs fault and whoever is misadvising him not to fire them all.
Are the Czars still there too?
I just hope for Cernovich that he has his facts straight. This is a bit bigger than implying Richard Spencer is a fed.
“Mike Cernovich”
i didn’t read any more after that.
“..he was hired as a career employee..” When, just after Clinton lost the election? Many political appointees move over to be hired to career employees when their party loses an election and even before during the election year. There were a lot of articles about Obama appointees doing that his last year in office. Not saying that Laufman is one of those, but saying he was hired as a career employee without knowing the date means nothing.
Bubububt people heard it on the innerwebs and posted it on FR so it must be true!
Looks like Cernovich is on thin ice.
Interestingly, one of his employees at the State Department, Arun Rao, is friends with James Alefantis of Comet Ping Pong fame and spent considerable time on Instagram “liking” the sexualized pictures of kids that Alefantis posted.
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