US President Donald Trump has attacked "illegal leaks"
following reports his attorney general discussed campaign-
related matters with a Russian envoy.
The Washington Post gave an account of meetings Attorney
General Jeff Sessions held with the Russian ambassador to
the US, Sergey Kislyak.
Mr Sessions has previously denied discussing the election
campaign.
US authorities are investigating possible collusion between
Russia and the Trump team.
The intelligence services believe Russia meddled in the vote
to help Mr Trump win. Russia denies this, and Mr Trump
says there was no collusion.Russia: The 'cloud' over the Trump White House
How Trump's Russia trouble unfolded
The Post's report quoted current and former US officials
who cited intelligence intercepts of Mr Kislyak's version of
the encounter to his superiors.
One of those quoted said Mr Kislyak spoke to Mr Sessions
about key campaign issues, including Mr Trump's positions
on policies significant to Russia.
During his confirmation hearing earlier this year, Mr
Sessions said he had no contact with Russians during the
election campaign. When it later emerged he had, he said
the campaign was not discussed at the meetings.
An official confirmed to Reuters the detail of the intercepts,
but there has been no independent corroboration.
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The officials spoken to by the Post said that Mr Kislyak
could have exaggerated the account, and cited a Justice
Department spokesperson who repeated that Mr Sessions
did not discuss interference in the election.
But the Post's story was the focus of one of many tweets
the US president fired off on Saturday morning.
"A new INTELLIGENCE LEAK from the Amazon Washington
Post, this time against A.G. Jeff Sessions. These illegal
leaks, like Comey's, must stop!" Mr Trump said.
The Washington Post is owned by Amazon, whose founder
Jeff Bezos has been an occasional sparring partner for Mr
Trump . "Comey" refers to James Comey, the former FBI
boss Mr Trump fired.
Earlier this week, Mr Trump told the New York Times he
regretted hiring Mr Sessions because he had stepped away
from overseeing an inquiry into alleged Russian meddling in
the US election.
Mr Sessions recused himself in March amid pressure over
his meetings with Mr Kislyak. He says he plans to continue
in his role as attorney general.
Several other regular targets for Mr Trump featured in his
series of tweets.
He accused the "failing" New York Times of foiling an
attempt to assassinate the leader of the Islamic State group,
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
It is not clear what Mr Trump was referring to, but on
Saturday a US general complained on Fox News that a
"good lead" on Baghdadi was leaked to a national
newspaper in 2015.
A New York Times report at the time revealed that valuable
information had been extracted from a raid, but the paper
stressed on Saturday that no-one had taken issue with their
reporting until now.
Mr Trump also said he had "complete power" to pardon,
amid reports he was considering presidential pardons for
family members, aides and even himself in response to the
Russian investigation.
And he again urged Republicans to "step up to the plate" and
repeal and replace President Obama's healthcare reforms, a
key campaign pledge of his that has collapsed in Congress
