Why President-elect Trump's Call For Congress To Investigate NBC On Who Leaked The Intelligence Report To Them Should Not Be Ignored

How did NBC get "an exclusive look into the top secret report he (Obama) was presented?" Who gave them this report and why? Politics!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2017

How did NBC get "an exclusive look into the top secret report he (Obama) was presented?" Who gave them this report and why? Politics!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2017

Callum Borchers, Washington Post: Why the media can’t dismiss Trump’s call on Congress to investigate an NBC report

President-elect Donald Trump is upset that NBC News on Thursday previewed the substance of an intelligence briefing he was set to receive on Friday, and now he wants Congress to investigate.

The information leaked to NBC wasn't exactly earth-shattering. Top intelligence officials on Thursday testified at a congressional hearing — in public, in other words — that they believe Russia attempted to meddle in the U.S. presidential election. Citing two unnamed intelligence officials, NBC filled in some additional details contained in a classified report that already had been delivered to President Obama — the one Trump was slated to receive on Friday.

“The report on Russian hacking also details Russian cyberattacks not just against the Democratic National Committee but the White House, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the State Department and American corporations,” NBC reported.

The Washington Post on Thursday reported another detail contained in the report: U.S. intelligence agencies intercepted celebratory communications among Russian officials in the wake of Trump's victory. Trump did not complain about The Post's report, specifically.

Read more ....

Update: White House says it did not leak material used in NBC report (Reuters)

WNU Editor: I remarked on Friday that President-elect Trump was upset that some in the media got access to the U.S. intelligence hacking report before he did .... even though he had requested his briefing a day before (and was told no). As a result .... he is using this case to tell his supporters that the intelligence community has beecome politicised, and that something must be done about it. But the fallout from this entire case may eventually fall on the media itself .... and they should be concerned. Many in the media support the administration's case that Russia used organisations like Wikileaks and their own news agency (RT) to post and publicise damaging leaks on the Hillary Clinton campaign .... and that the White House was justified to expel 35 Russian diplomats while imposing sanctions on others in Russia. This double standard where the the U.S. media supports and feels comfortable when a government claims a news agency .... albeit a foreign one .... is just a propaganda tool for a government that needs to be sanctioned and a website that has been posting leaked documents for almost a decade should have its founder put behind bars for a long time .... but they themselves must always be exempt from the same consequences when they post leaked information .... cannot in the end stand. But that is the problem. U.S. intelligence is politicised. The media itself is politicised. And the trend lines are getting worse.