Trump Allegedly Suspects Bannon to Be Behind Leaks Targeting White House Staff

US President Donald Trump allegedly suspects that his Chief Strategist Steve Bannon is the one behind the leaks about the latter's White House colleagues, Axios.com portal reported on Sunday, citing sources close to the president.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to Axios, Trump told his associates he had enough of Bannon’s "self-promotion," and the time the president spends with his adviser has been considerably reduced.

Bannon is said to be behind numerous negative stories in the media, targeting National Security Adviser Herbert McMaster, as the reports have been mainly coming from the Breitbart news outlet, where Bannon used to be executive officer before joining Trump’s team, the media outlet explained.

However, Bannon has reportedly told his associates that he had nothing to do with the media campaign against McMaster, the website added.

According to a filing written by the White House on April 5, Trump reorganized the National Security Council (NSC) by removing Bannon from the Principals Committee. McMaster reportedly ordered the changes.

Trump has long been trying to tackle the issue of leaks of sensitive information to media, including details of his Oval Office conversations.

On August 4, US Attorney General Jeff Sessions declared a government-wide crackdown on leakers, which will include a review of the Justice Department’s policies concerning subpoenas for the press about intelligence leaks.

In early August, Sessions said that the Department of Justice had charged four people with disclosing classified information or concealing contacts with federal officers since January.

According to Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, the leaks of classified information come from outside the Intelligence Community as well as from within, and include material shared by the executive branch and the US Congress.