OH DEAR

Ex-Senate Intelligence Staffer James Wolfe Indicted on Charges of Lying to FBI

James Wolfe accused of misleading investigators about his interactions with three reporters.

The Department of Justice has arrested a former Senate Intelligence Committee staffer on charges of making false statements to the FBI. In a statement issued late Thursday, the department said James A. Wolfe, 58, misled FBI investigators in December 2017, when he was serving as the committee’s director of security, a post he held for 29 years. Wolfe is accused of lying to federal agents about his interactions with three reporters, including through encrypted messaging apps, during the course of an investigation into classified information leaks. He is expected to make his first court appearance Friday at the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. The charges against Wolfe came shortly after The New York Times reported that the Justice Department seized one of its reporter’s phone and email records as part of a leak investigation.