Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) scolded his Democratic colleagues on the House Intelligence Committee Wednesday for leaking just about everything they hear in closed door testimonies in their ongoing Russian collusion investigation. Their latest offense came after their meeting with former communications director Hope Hicks.
Almost as soon as she stepped out of the room, the press got ahold of some juicy information: Hicks had told the committee that one of her email accounts had been hacked.
Under relatively routine questioning from Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., about her correspondence, Hicks indicated that she could no longer access two accounts: one she used as a member of President Donald Trump's campaign team and the other a personal account, according to four people who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the closed meeting of the Intelligence Committee was supposed to remain private.
Hicks, who portrayed herself as not savvy in matters of technology, told lawmakers that one of the accounts was hacked, according to two sources who were in the room. It is unclear if Hicks was referring to the campaign or the personal account.
Shame on the Democrats for leaking details from their confidential meeting, Zeldin said on Twitter after seeing the NBC News report.
Holy cow. The leaks coming from Dems on @HouseIntelComm are out of control! Witnesses come in for hours of testimony at a time & then Dems instantly leak their version of 1 question & that's that. Do rules, confidentiality & process matter at all anymore? https://t.co/NUr2CRc78G
— Lee Zeldin (@RepLeeZeldin) March 8, 2018
Yet, the leaks apparently go both ways. Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee have been accused of leaking witness testimony too, CNN reports.
In December, an attorney for David Kramer -- an associate to Sen. John McCain who had met with former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele -- sent a letter to the House Intelligence Committee accusing the committee's Republicans of leaking information about Kramer's December testimony to the attorney of another witness.
Leaking testimony to another witness violates the committee rules.
Is the divided committee trying to spin their own narratives, or are they truly trying to get answers as to how Russia interfered in our elections?
Corey Lewandowski is the next Trump-associated witness to appear before the committee Thursday. He temporarily served as Trump's campaign manager in the 2016 election.