Ex-Senate staffer faces charges in leak investigation

Washington Post ^ | June 7 2018 | Shane Harris and Ellen Nakashima

[yesthatjallen]

A former staff member of the Senate Intelligence Committee has been indicted and arrested on charges of making false statements to the FBI during an investigation into the leak of classified information, the Justice Department announced Thursday. As part of the investigation, law enforcement officials seized years worth of phone and email records of a New York Times reporter, Ali Watkins, who had previously been in a romantic relationship with the staffer, the newspaper reported Thursday evening.

The Senate staffer, James A. Wolfe, was indicted on three counts of making false statements while he served as the committee’s director of security, a position in which he was entrusted with secret and top-secret information provided to the committee as part of its oversight of the intelligence community, the Justice Department said in a statement.

The government alleges that Wolfe lied to FBI agents in December 2017 about “repeated contacts” with three reporters, including through the use of encrypted messaging applications. He is further accused of lying about providing two reporters with “non-public information related to matters occurring before the [committee],” the statement read.

It’s rare for the government to obtain the communications of reporters as part of a leak investigation, and the seizure of Watkins’s records, the first known case under the Trump administration, signals the aggressiveness with which officials are pursuing leaks to the press.

A prosecutor informed Watkins in a Feb. 13 letter that the Justice Department had obtained records and subscriber information from communications companies, including Google and Verizon, pertaining to two email accounts and a phone number of Watkins, according to the Times, which learned of the letter on Thursday. The government did not obtain the content of any of Watkins’s messages, the paper said. Watkins worked for BuzzFeed and Politico before joining the Times.

[justrepublican]

“Page does not exist” that was quick

[volunbeer]

I would love for you to be right and I have not been much of a Sessions basher if you check my history although I don’t know what to think about him.

However, if you think they will charge the ranking democrat on the intel committee or the former DNI you are far more optimistic than I.

[MAGAthon]

a Watkins’ tweet from Sept 2017 -

https://i.redd.it/fthzj3s37p211.jpg

[chiller]

I loved Sessions, but he's awol on the key issues. Move him to Asst. AG and promote a bull dog to investigate all that is exposed next week. DJT will have unquestionable cause to do so

[txnativegop]

Errr . . . you meant Deep State Hump, didn’t you? :)

[piasa]

SSCI.... interesting.

From 2014, trouble with leaky SCCI staffers not being vetted or supervised properly by the CIA:
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3240569/posts

Another curiousity… Starzak’s just a spelling variation of Strzok, isn’t it?

[ptsal]

Under cover research NYTimes

[yesthatjallen]

I got a couple screen shots.

I told others on other sites to take them too.

It's still up for me. I didn't refresh.

[yesthatjallen]

There's also this on her page:

Have a story about ATF, DEA or Secret Service? Talk to me securely. Signal/WhatsApp: +14843320472

[petitfour]

Interesting

[Fedora]

Not sure—they both seem to be Polish surnames, so maybe.

[CardCarryingMember.VastRightWC]

So ........ Which one of them is Deep Throat?

[CaptainK]

I was looking at her twitter thread an hour ago lol.

[MAGAthon]

Wolfe’s wife:

11 October 2016: Charter Names Jane Rhodes-Wolfe Head of Corporate Security
Rhodes-Wolfe joins Charter after 20 years with the Federal Bureau of Investigation where she most recently served as Section Chief, Counterterrorism Division. As a Senior Executive with the FBI, Rhodes-Wolfe served in a number of leadership positions throughout the Bureau where she led national programs dedicated to national security, criminal investigations, and technology systems...
Since retiring from the FBI earlier this year, Rhodes-Wolfe has worked as a consultant, lending her expertise in security, enterprise risk management and media relations to private and government clients...
https://newsroom.charter.com/press-releases/jane-rhodes-wolfe-charter-corporate-security/

[Socon-Econ]

Advice to anyone, especially Republicans who could get indicted in lib land, never talk to the FBI about anything where your own conduct could be at issue. If the boss says, “talk or you’re fired,” better to be fired. Ask Scooter Libby about this.

[cgbg]

draining Mr. Wolfe of

I think there was a movie about this--but it appears Mr. Wolfe wasn't paying attention:

A foreign substance is introduced into our precious bodily fluids without the knowledge of the individual, and certainly without any choice. That's the way your hard-core Commie works. I first became aware of it, Mandrake, during the physical act of love... Yes, a profound sense of fatigue, a feeling of emptiness followed. Luckily I — I was able to interpret these feelings correctly. Loss of essence. I can assure you it has not recurred, Mandrake. Women, er, women sense my power, and they seek the life essence. I do not avoid women, Mandrake...but I do deny them my essence.

:-)

[cgbg]

Wolfe's wife former section Chief, Counterterrorism

I feel so much safer already.... :-(

[mewzilla]

Ping to MAGAthon’s info on the wife.

Thanks, MAGAthon!

[mewzilla]

Wow. Now I’m wondering if wifey knew and was running hubby. And was Wolfe really banging Watkins? If so, was it just to keep her on a string? Or was the affair really just a cover story?

[gov_bean_ counter]

Another one with the to smart by half glasses...