The war between Trump and the intelligence community is heating up

"Leaking, and even illegal classified leaking, has been a big problem in Washington for years. Failing @nytimes (and others) must apologize!" Trump tweeted. "The spotlight has finally been put on the low-life leakers! They will be caught!"

In a meeting later with several members of Congress, he added: "We're going to find the leakers, and they're going to pay a big price."

The New York Times and The Washington Post have published several bombshell reports over the past week about the intelligence community's investigations into the Trump campaign's contact with Russia during and after the election.

Those reports revealed that former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn had discussed sanctions with Russia's ambassador to the US before Trump was sworn in, despite his previously denying anything sensitive was discussed on the calls. Flynn resigned on Monday.

A Times report on Tuesday shed light on the "repeated contacts" Trump associates had with Russian intelligence officials during the election. CNN followed up with a report on Tuesday night that cited sources who said the communication between Trump associates and Russian officials during the campaign was "constant."

The outlets cited dozens of current and former officials in total. The Times and The Post did not specify that their sources came from within the intelligence community.

In an apparent response to those reports, Trump tweeted on Wednesday that "information is being illegally given to the failing @nytimes & @washingtonpost by the intelligence community (NSA and FBI?). Just like Russia."

"The real scandal here is that classified information is illegally given out by 'intelligence' like candy," he continued. "Very un-American!"

On the campaign trail, Trump embraced the organization WikiLeaks when it published emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta. But he has sought to discredit the intelligence community since before he was sworn in, at one point comparing what he said were its "illegal leaks" of "fake news" about his alleged ties to Russia to "Nazi Germany."

In early January, just before US intelligence agencies released a report detailing the extent to which Russia meddled in the US election, Trump suggested that officials had postponed briefing him on the "so-called 'Russian hacking'" because they needed more time "to build a case."

Now, Trump appears poised to launch a "broad review of American intelligence agencies" that would be overseen by New York billionaire Stephen Feinberg — a friend of Trump's whose "only experience with national security matters is his firm's stakes in a private security company and two gun makers," The Times reported on Wednesday.

But the intelligence community may have ways of maintaining its independence.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday night that intelligence officials have begun to withhold information — primarily dealing with its sources and the methods of collecting it — from the White House because of Trump's "repeated expressions of admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his call during the presidential campaign for Russia to continue hacking the emails" of Clinton.

The intelligence officials fear Trump could be compromised by Russia, and they resent his constant attacks on the community, according to the Journal's report.

A spokesman for the director of national intelligence denied that the intelligence community would withhold information from the president, and a former CIA officer told Business Insider that "the system doesn't work that way."

"If there's a concern about someone being compromised, they remove that person," said the former officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the CIA's briefing strategy. "They don't just stop providing intel. That's crazy talk."

"That being said," the officer added, "we do live in unprecedented times."

The war between Trump and the intelligence community is heating up

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