Comey leaked classified information to media: Trump

Washington, July 10 (IANS) US President Donald Trump on Monday accused former FBI Director James B. Comey of illegally leaking classified information to the media as the President faces new allegations about his 2016 campaign's contact with the Russians.

"James Comey leaked CLASSIFIED INFORMATION to the media," Trump wrote on Twitter, referring to the FBI director he fired in May, "That is so illegal!"

Testifying before Congress last month, Comey revealed that a tweet by the President -- incorrectly suggesting he may have had taped his conversations with the former Federal Bureau of Investigation chief -- prompted Comey to ask a close friend to leak to the news media private memos he had kept recounting his interactions with Trump.

Trump also used Twitter to push out several "Fox & Friends" clips, including one accusing Comey of having his friend leak top secret information, and another accusing the media of not representing half of the country.

Trump retweeted a missive by Fox News host Sean Hannity, which attacked Hillary Clinton, seeming to refer to her private email server as Secretary of State and saying, "HRC mishandles and destroys classified info-NO PROBLEM!"

Trump's tweets came amid reports in the New York Times this weekend that his oldest son, Donald Trump Jr, as well as his son-in-law Jared Kushner and former campaign manager Paul J. Manafort met a Russian lawyer with Kremlin ties during the 2016 campaign, after being promised damaging information on Clinton.

Trump then urged lawmakers to pass legislation to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama's signature healthcare bill before leaving for the August recess.

"I cannot imagine that Congress would dare to leave Washington without a beautiful new HealthCare bill fully approved and ready to go!" he wrote on Twitter.