trump praises arrest of former senate intelligence committee aide creditj scott applewhiteassociated pressjune 8 2018washington president trump on friday praised the arrest of a former senate intelligence committee aide who is accused of lying to investigators about his contacts with reporters in an inquiry into leaks of classified informationthe president called the former senate aide james a wolfe a very important leaker mr wolfe the committees former director of security was arrested thursday at his home in ellicott city mdas part of its investigation federal law enforcement officials secretly seized a new york times reporters phone and email records going back several yearsit could be a terrific thing mr trump said of the arrest speaking to reporters as he left washington for the group of 7 summit meeting in canadaim a big big believer in freedom of the press mr trump said but im also a believer in classified information it has to remain classified mr wolfe was not accused of illegally disclosing national security secretsit was the first known instance during the trump administration of the justice department going after a reporters datareporters cant leak you cannot leak classified information at the same time we need freedom of the press but you cannot leak mr trump said speaking to reporters previously mr trump has suggested that reporters should be jailed for publishing classified informationmr wolfe made his first court appearance on friday in federal court in baltimore about 15 miles from his home ellicott city before the proceedings he quietly reviewed papers with his lawyer christian lassiter an attorney in the maryland public defenders officehe did not enter a plea and was released on several conditions including that he turn in his passport travel only in maryland and for legal proceedings in the district of columbia and that not make unauthorized disclosures of classified information he was scheduled to be arraigned on tuesday in federal court in the district of columbiamr wolfe a former army intelligence analyst stopped performing committee work in december and retired in mayhe worked closely with both democrats and republicans in a bipartisan fashion for more than 30 years on the senate intelligence committee which oversees the fbi the cia and the national security agency and their secretive operationsthe committees staff follows strict rules for the handling of delicate and often classified information for one of the most tightly secured committees in congress mr wolfe would have been responsible for enforcing those rules the committee is also conducting its own investigation into russias interference in the 2016 election and possible ties to the trump campaign as part of that the committee has reviewed reams of classified materials related to the election meddling and met with current and former trump aidesthe investigation of mr wolfe came to light this week after the committee said that it was cooperating with the justice department in a pending investigation arising out of the unauthorized disclosure of informationfreedom of the press is a cornerstone of democracy said eileen murphy a