The White House declined to say Thursday how it will limit the classified information it shares with Congress, or how it will respond to lawmakers who insist their oversight duties necessitate access to the information.
The comments came shortly before the classified briefing on Iran by Trump administration officials for the Senate.
“This administration wants to ensure that classified intelligence is not ending up in irresponsible hands, and that people who have the privilege of viewing this top-secret classified information are being responsible with it,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a briefing.
“And unfortunately, clearly, someone who had their hands on this — and it was a very few people, very few number of people in our government who saw this report… That person was irresponsible with it,” Leavitt added, referring to the early Defense Intelligence Agency assessment that found US strikes on Iran did not destroy the core components of the country’s nuclear program and likely only set it back by months.
“We need to strengthen that process to protect our national security and protect the American public,” Leavitt said.
The Trump administration is planning to limit what it shares with Congress, a senior White House official told CNN on Wednesday, believing that the report came out after it was posted on Monday to CAPNET, a system used for sharing classified intelligence with Congress.
