Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., said Wednesday he was outraged by the White House leak about President Donald Trump's call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and he put the spotlight on the national security team, the Washington Examiner reports.
Meadows made the assertion at a Heritage Foundation event on Capitol Hill.
"If you've got the National Security Council team leaking to the press, that's a big deal," said Meadows, chairman of the Freedom Caucus. "Quite frankly, some of the other stuff they've leaked is actually a crime."
At issue is who leaked the notes given to Trump that read "DO NOT CONGRATULATE" before the president's call with Putin; Trump congratulated Putin on his election victory anyway.
The controversy puts National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster — and his team — directly in the crosshairs of Trump and Chief of Staff John Kelly, both of whom reportedly are furious by the leak and The Washington Post story that stemmed from it.
Meadows could not care less about whether Trump congratulated Putin or not, and asserted that is not the issue anyway.
"I'm probably more concerned about leaks within the administration," Meadows said. "Whether it's appropriate or not appropriate, there's a bigger concern there within the West Wing if you've got people on the national security team that have leaked."
"That's where it had to have come from," Meadows said. "It's a very small group of people that would have even had any knowledge of that."
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said he was bothered more by the leak than the fact Trump congratulated Putin.
"No I don't like that he did it, but you know what I like even less is that there's someone close to him that's leaking this stuff out," Rubio said Wednesday. "If you don't like the guy, quit. But to be this duplicitous and continue to leak things out, it's dangerous."
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.