Ranting Donald Trump declares all-out war on US spies – accusing insiders of ‘illegally’ handing secret information over to the media ‘like candy’
The US President sounded off in a highly-charged series of tweets as the scandal over his team's alleged links to Moscow deepened
A RANTING Donald Trump has rounded on his intelligence agencies amid a deepening scandal over his administration's alleged links to Moscow.
In a highly-charged Twitter rant not seen since he took office, the US President posted a string of angry messages in response to reports his team had discussions with the Russians prior to the election.
He tweeted: "Information is being illegally given to the failing @nytimes & @washingtonpost by the intelligence community (NSA and FBI?).Just like Russia."
He later added: "The real scandal out here is that classified information is illegally given out by 'intelligence' like candy. Very un-American!"
In that and a series of other morning tweets Wednesday, Trump appeared to be trying to distance himself from any appearance of close ties with Russia.
This followed reports that US agencies had intercepted phone calls last year between Russian intelligence officials and his 2016 campaign team.
Trump denounced "this Russian connection non-sense" as "merely an attempt to cover-up the many mistakes made in Hillary Clinton's losing campaign".
His remarks come on the heels of the resignation of his national security adviser, Michael Flynn, after it was revealed that he'd reportedly discussed sanctions with Russia's ambassador to the US before Trump was sworn in.
He also renewed his attack on the "fake news media" amid the widening controversy.
A pre-dawn message on his verified Twitter account was posted today complaining: "The fake news media is going crazy with their conspiracy theories and blind hatred."
He said: "This Russian connection non-sense is merely an attempt to cover-up the many mistakes made in Hillary Clinton's losing campaign."
He added in the post that "@MSNBC & @CNN are unwatchable. @foxandfriends is great!"
Another tweet stated: "Crimea was TAKEN by Russia during the Obama Administration. Was Obama too soft on Russia?"
The latest tweet follows a pattern of social media messages that Trump has sent, chastising news organisations both during his campaign for the White House and in the more than three weeks since his inauguration.
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