President Donald Trump announced this Wednesday, January 14, from the Oval Office that the authorities have captured the person responsible for leaking classified information related to operations in Venezuela, an announcement that coincided with a strong FBI operation against a reporter for The Washington Post newspaper.
The president was blunt when communicating the legal situation of the suspect, stating verbatim that “the leaker has been found and is in jail right now,” and then adding that “that is the leaker about Venezuela. “A very bad leaker.”
During his intervention before the media, Trump made it clear that the investigation remains open to detect whether there are more people involved in the intelligence leak within the administration. “So there might be some others, and we’ll let you know about that. “We are on his trail,” said the president, underlining the severity with which the case will be treated when sentencing the detainee. «He will probably be in jail for a long time. “Let’s see what happens.”
The defendant has been identified as Aurelio Pérez Lugones, a systems administrator and contractor from Maryland.
The confirmation of the arrest occurred amid controversy over the raid on the home of Hannah Natanson, the journalist who received the classified information. Federal agents searched his Virginia home and seized his cellphone and computers, a move the Washington Post called “unusual and aggressive.”
