Within hours of the attack, Abedi's name and other information given confidentially to security services in the United States and France were leaked to the press, leading to condemnation from Home Secretary Amber Rudd. Following the publication of crime scene photographs of the backpack bomb used in the attack in the 24 May edition of The New York Times, United Kingdom counterterrorism police chiefs said the release of the material was detrimental to the investigation. On 25 May, the GMP said it had stopped sharing information on the attack with the U.S. intelligence services. Theresa May said she would make clear to then president Donald Trump that "intelligence that has been shared must be made secure." Trump described the leaks to the news media as "deeply troubling", and pledged to carry out a full investigation. British officials blamed the leaks on "the breakdown of normal discipline at the White House and in the US security services". The New York Times editor Dean Baquet declined to apologise for publishing the backpack bomb photographs, saying "We live in different press worlds" and that the material was not classified at the highest level. On 26 May, then United States secretary of state Rex Tillerson said the United States government accepted responsibility for the leaks.
