WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump slammed intelligence officials and the media Wednesday over what he called "very, very unfair" treatment of his ousted national security adviser Michael Flynn and for "illegally leaked" information about reported contacts between his campaign advisers and Russian officials.
Flynn was forced to resign this week after misleading Vice President Mike Pence and other Trump aides about his contacts with Russia's ambassador to the U.S. before the inauguration.
In his first public comments on Flynn's firing, Trump said it was "really a sad thing that he was treated so badly." He spoke during a White House news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
[DOCUMENT: Read Michael Flynn's resignation letter]
Late Tuesday, The New York Times reported that U.S. agencies had intercepted phone calls last year between Russian intelligence officials and members of Trump's 2016 campaign team. Current and former U.S. officials who spoke to the Times anonymously said they found no evidence that the Trump campaign was working with the Russians on hacking or other efforts to influence the election.
Trump didn't directly address the veracity of the report, but lashed out at what he called the "criminal act" of leaking information. Earlier Wednesday, Trump tweeted that "classified information is illegally given out by 'intelligence' like candy. Very un-American!"
The White House has not commented on the report, though officials denied as recently as Tuesday afternoon that campaign advisers had communicated with Russia during the election.
The White House said Flynn was fired not because of his communications with the Russian ambassador, but because he had not been truthful with Pence about the content of those discussions. Flynn maintained for weeks that he had not discussed sanctions in the calls, but later conceded that the topic may have come up.
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White House officials said they conducted a thorough review of Flynn's interactions, including transcripts of calls secretly recorded by U.S. intelligence officials, but found nothing illegal.
Pence, who had vouched for Flynn in a televised interview, is said to have been angry and deeply frustrated.
At the White House Tuesday, press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters: "The evolving and eroding level of trust as a result of this situation and a series of other questionable incidents is what led the president to ask General Flynn for his resignation."
Flynn, in an interview with The Daily Caller News Foundation, said Monday "there were no lines crossed" in his conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
Read Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.