Media leaks reported to CIA at alarming rate during Trump era -- especially when Mike Pompeo led spy agency

The Trump administration reported substantially more media leaks to the Justice Department and intelligence agencies than previous administrations, according to newly released data.

The Intercept obtained new data that shows Donald Trump's administration referred far more leaks -- called "crime reports" -- to the CIA, National Security Agency and Justice Department than previous presidential administrations as part of his relentless campaign against whistleblowers.

"A former CIA official pointed to the sheer frequency of leaks directly related to the Russia investigation," the website reported. "Media leaks about the Russia investigation were so commonplace that the former CIA official, upon being notified of one such leak in spring of 2017, recalled a senior CIA counterintelligence manager remarking, 'Well, that's another referral.'"

The CIA accounted for more than 64 percent of all referrals, primarily about the Russia probe, while the NSA accounted for just 15 percent.

The referrals spiked to 120 in 2017, when Trump ally Mike Pompeo led the CIA, and many reports involved leaks that had occurred months or even years before during the Obama administration.

"More than twice as many leak referrals were sent to the Justice Department during the first three years of the Trump administration than in any other three-year period in the last decade-and-a-half," the website reported.