Longtime U.S. Senate intel panel staffer
indicted for allegedly lying to FBI
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[June 08, 2018]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A longtime
staffer of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee was arrested on
Thursday on charges of lying to FBI agents investigating the illegal
disclosure of classified information, the U.S. attorney for the District
of Columbia said.
James Wolfe, who worked for the committee as director of security for
about 29 years, allegedly lied to FBI agents in December about his
contacts with three reporters, U.S. Attorney Jessie Liu said in a
statement.
As director of security, Wolfe, 58, was responsible for safeguarding all
classified information in the committee's possession, the statement
said.
Wolfe, a Maryland resident, was expected to make his first court
appearance on Friday in the U.S. District Court for the District of
Maryland.
Wolfe could not be contacted for comment.
The FBI was conducting a criminal investigation "into multiple
unauthorized disclosures of classified information to one or more
members of the news media," according to the indictment.
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As part of the investigation into Wolfe, federal law enforcement
officials secretly seized a New York Times reporter's phone and email
records, the newspaper said.
The reporter, Ali Watkins, had previously had a three-year romantic
relationship with Wolfe, who stopped performing work for the
Intelligence Committee in December and retired in May, the Times said.
The FBI asserted that Wolfe had helped Watkins with articles while they
were dating but Watkins said Wolfe was not a source of classified
information during their relationship, according to the Times.
Watkins joined the Times in late 2017 and previously worked for Buzzfeed
News and Politico, the newspaper said.
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![](../images/060818pics/news_d7.jpg)
Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee Richard Burr (R-NC)
and the committee's vice chairman Senator Mark Warner (D-VA)(5th R)
stand with members of the committee as they speak to the media about
the committee's findings and recommendations on threats to election
infrastructure on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 20, 2018.
REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
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The leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee said they were
troubled to hear of the charges against Wolfe.
"While the charges do not appear to include anything related to the
mishandling of classified information, the committee takes this
matter extremely seriously," the panel's chairman, Republican
Senator Richard Burr, and its top Democrat, Senator Mark Warner,
said in a statement.
Burr and Warner said they were made aware of the investigation late
last year and have fully cooperated with the FBI and Justice
Department.
"This will in no way interfere with our ongoing investigation," the
statement said.
(Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Paul Tait)
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