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The ODNI statement comes in response to a Wall Street Journal story reporting that intelligence officials have kept intelligence from Donald Trump. | Getty

Office of Director of National Intelligence: We don't withhold intel from Trump

By Louis Nelson
02/16/17 07:16 AM EST

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence denied on Wednesday reports that intelligence community officials have withheld intelligence from President Donald Trump.

The ODNI statement, released late Wednesday night, comes in response to a Wall Street Journal story reporting that intelligence officials have kept intelligence from Trump over concerns that that information might be leaked or otherwise compromised by a White House reportedly lacking in organization and besieged by internal conflict.

"Any suggestion that the U.S. Intelligence Community is withholding information and not providing the best possible intelligence to the President and his national security team is not true,” the ODNI statement said.

The Journal’s reporting, which cites anonymous sources and has not been independently confirmed by POLITICO, is further evidence of a rift between Trump and the intelligence community of which he is in charge. On Wednesday, Trump blamed the intelligence community for leaks that have proved damaging to his administration and compared its practices to those of Russia.

In the past, he has likened the intelligence community to Nazi Germany and stubbornly disputed conclusions reached unanimously by all 17 federal intelligence agencies.

Further muddying the relationship between Trump and the intelligence community are the alleged ties between close allies of the president and the Russian government, which have been reported by multiple media outlets but have been strenuously denied by Trump and those around him.


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http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/office-director-national-intelligence-trump-intel-wsj-235080