US intel community 'ready to go nuclear' against Donald Trump over Russia ties, claims former NSA analyst
The intelligence community is preparing to “go nuclear” in the wake of revelations about the Trump campaign’s contact with Russia, a former spy has warned.
Security consultant and ex-National Security Agency (NSA) employee, John Schindler said he had received an email from a senior intelligence agent discussing the President.
It opened with the words: "He will die in jail", he said.
Donald Trump has heaped criticism onto the US security services after a series of leaks from official sources embarrassed his administration.
The US President said he would put a “spotlight” on the “low-life leakers” earlier this week.
The spotlight has finally been put on the low-life leakers! They will be caught!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 16, 2017
The real story here is why are there so many illegal leaks coming out of Washington? Will these leaks be happening as I deal on N.Korea etc?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 14, 2017
He also accused the media of citing non-existent sources for a cluster of stories questioning the depth of the Trump team's relationship with Russia.
Mr Schindler suggested that his former colleagues in the intelligence community were less than impressed with the US President.
Taking to Twitter, he wrote: “Now we go nuclear. [Intelligence Community] war going to new levels. Just got an [email from a] senior [Intelligence Community] friend, it began: “He will die in jail."
Now we go nuclear. IC war going to new levels. Just got an EM fm senior IC friend, it began: "He will die in jail."https://t.co/e6FxCclVqT
— John Schindler (@20committee) February 15, 2017
US intelligence is not the problem here.
The President's collusion with Russian intelligence is.
Many details, but the essence is simple.— John Schindler (@20committee) February 15, 2017
The Kremlin said on Friday it was not disappointed by how US-Russia ties were developing under the new administration, and that it would only be possible to assess the outlook for relations once the leaders of both countries had met.
"We haven't been wearing rose-tinted glasses, we never harboured illusions, so there is nothing to be disappointed in," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
"There has not yet been substantive contact between the two heads of state. It's not known when this will happen. And probably only after they talk will it be clear where significant differences remain and where it is possible to discover areas for cooperation."
Reuters contributed to this report