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Donald Trump accuses US intelligence agencies of illegally giving information to press

US president also accused the 'fake news media' of going 'crazy' with 'conspiracy theories and blind hatred'

Samuel Osborne
Wednesday 15 February 2017 13:32 GMT
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President Trump went on to call unconfirmed allegations about his campaign team's links to Russia an attempt to cover up 'the many mistakes made in Hillary Clinton's losing campaign'
President Trump went on to call unconfirmed allegations about his campaign team's links to Russia an attempt to cover up 'the many mistakes made in Hillary Clinton's losing campaign' (AFP/Getty)

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Donald Trump has accused US intelligence agencies of illegally giving information to the media over his team's alleged contact with Russian officials.

The US president also accused the "fake news media" of going "crazy" with "conspiracy theories and blind hatred".

He went on to call the unconfirmed allegations about his campaign team's links to Russia were an attempt to cover up "the many mistakes made in Hillary Clinton's losing campaign".

"Information is being illegally given to the failing @nytimes & @washingtonpost by the intelligence community (NSA and FBI?).Just like Russia [sic]," Mr Trump tweeted.

His tweet appears to question whether the NSA and FBI are involved in the leaks.

He also went on to say to call intelligence agencies "very un-American!" and alleged they were giving out illegally giving out classified information "like candy".

Mr Trump previously attacked "illegal leaks coming out of Washington" after his national security adviser Michael Flynn was forced to resign.

Michael Flynn resigns as national security adviser over Russia row

The New York Times published the allegations that American law enforcement and intelligence agencies found "repeated contacts" between Mr Trump's campaign staff and associates and senior Russian intelligence operatives in the year leading up to the US election.

The communications were reportedly intercepted at the same time evidence of Russian involvement in the Democratic National Committee (DNC) hack was discovered, although officials said they found no evidence of the Trump team “colluding” with Russia on efforts to influence the result.

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