Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

US intel community 'ready to go nuclear' against Donald Trump over Russia ties, claims former NSA analyst

US President 'will die in jail,' says former National Security Agency employee, John Schindler

Harriet Agerholm
Friday 17 February 2017 14:58 EST
Comments
Donald Trump said on Thursday he would put a 'spotlight' on the 'low-life leakers'
Donald Trump said on Thursday he would put a 'spotlight' on the 'low-life leakers' (Getty)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

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.

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."

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

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in