Biden says leak investigation is ‘getting close’

President Biden said Thursday that an investigation into the leak of a massive trove of classified U.S. military documents is “getting close” to a resolution and downplayed the fallout from secrets that have exposed U.S. spying on allies and revealed the grim prospects for Ukraine’s war with Russia, among other things.

“There is a full-blown investigation going on, as you know, with the intelligence community and the Justice Department, and they’re getting close,” Biden told reporters in Dublin, where he is on a trip that has included stops in Ireland and Northern Ireland, when asked if he could provide an update on the investigation.

Biden did not elaborate on the status of the investigation beyond that, saying he was not in a position to do so.

The Post reported Wednesday that the man behind the leak is a young, charismatic gun enthusiast in his early to mid-20s who shared highly classified documents on Discord, an online platform popular with gamers, with a group of far-flung acquaintances searching for companionship amid the isolation of the pandemic. A friend said that he worked on a military base.

Asked about his concern about the magnitude of the leaks, Biden downplayed the consequences.

“I’m not concerned about the leak because - I’m concerned that it happened, but there’s nothing contemporaneous that I’m aware of that is of great consequence,” Biden said.

For several days, Biden has ignored questions shouted at him by reporters about the leaked documents. His comments Thursday came during a brief give-and-take with reporters as he walked with Irish President Michael D. Higgins outside the Irish presidential residence.

Earlier Thursday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to say whether the Biden administration knew as much about the identity of the leaker as The Post did.

“I’m just not going to comment on that, on the Post story,” she told reporters.

The top-secret documents appear to be at least partly from the Pentagon and many seem to have been prepared for senior military officials.

The documents reveal profound concerns about the war’s trajectory and Kyiv’s capacity to wage a successful offensive against Russian forces. According to a Defense Intelligence Agency assessment among the leaked documents, “Negotiations to end the conflict are unlikely during 2023.”

The files include summaries of human intelligence on high-level conversations between world leaders, as well as information about advanced satellite technology the United States uses to spy. They also include intelligence on both allies and adversaries, including Iran and North Korea, as well as Britain, Canada, South Korea and Israel.

In addition to the Justice Department investigation, officials in several countries said they were assessing the damage from the leaks.