DOJ would rather leak information to friendly media than provide it to Congress in response to subpoenas

Mollie Hemingway:

U.S. law enforcement and intelligence officials have leaked extremely sensitive information about a top secret source three times in the last week while claiming that confidentially sharing information about the source with congressional investigators could greatly impact U.S. national security and potentially risk the source’s life.

The officials have leaked specific information that could directly identify the source on three separate occasions to reporters at the Washington Post and New York Times. This raises even more questions about whether current top intelligence and law enforcement officials can be trusted to obey the law and to adequately protect the nation’s intelligence secrets.

The latest leak came via a Washington Postarticle in which the very same officials blame Congress for the leaks solely because a U.S. congressional committee subpoenaed the Justice Department for information about irregularities with methods used in the unprecedented investigation targeting the campaign of Donald Trump for president.

Before the leaks occurred, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said, of the demand for information by Congress as part of its oversight duties, that the Justice Department would not be “extorted.” Then the leaks began spilling out.

Prior to the Washington Post‘s May 8 article “Secret intelligence source who aided Mueller probe is at center of latest clash between Nunes and Justice Dept,” it was unknown what the information sought by Congress dealt with. The story first put forth the narrative that responding to congressional oversight requests would “endanger a top-secret intelligence source” and “could risk lives by potentially exposing the source.”

The Justice Department has a pattern of claiming extreme danger if the American public or her representatives in Congress learn about what they are doing. For instance, as the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence prepared to release information about abuse of the secret courts that permit the government to spy on American citizens, the Justice Department released a letter to the press saying the action was “extraordinarily reckless,”would be “damaging” to “national security,” and would risk “damage to our intelligence community or the important work it does in safeguarding the American people.”
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There is much more.

If DOJ is not leaking it is redacting material provided to Congress in what looks like a coverup of a coup attempt against the President.  The leaks look like a bad faith attempt to spurn Congress and give material to media outlets that will write a story that looks like a brief for the leakers instead of a forthright telling of the misconduct of those in the DOJ and intelligence committee.  If they keep this up, Congress should call for a special prosecutor to investigate the DOJ and FBI.