The US president, Joe Biden, has said that though he is concerned about the leaking of a tranche of confidential documents from the Pentagon, there was nothing of consequence contained in them. Biden told reporters during a visit to Ireland: 'There’s nothing contemporaneous that I’m aware of that is of great consequence.'

He said an investigation was under way by the intelligence services and the justice department to ascertain the source of the leaks, adding that 'they're getting close'.

Pentagon leaks: how much damage will they cause?

Pentagon leaks linked to young gun enthusiast who worked at military base – report

Pentagon leaks: key revelations of classified documents