Trump’s chief of staff ‘asked the FBI to discredit reported links to Russians’
WHITE House chief of staff Reince Priebus asked top FBI officials to dispute media reports that President Donald Trump’s campaign advisers were frequently in touch with Russian intelligence agents during the election, according to three White House officials.
The officials said that Mr Priebus’s February 15 request to FBI director James Comey and deputy director Andrew McCabe came as the White House sought to discredit a New York Times report about contacts between Russian intelligence officials and members of Mr Trump’s 2016 campaign team.
The FBI has not commented publicly on the veracity of the report and there is no indication it plans to, despite the White House’s request.
White House officials said it was the FBI that first raised concerns about the reporting, but told Mr Priebus the bureau could not weigh in publicly.
The officials said Mr McCabe and Mr Comey instead gave Mr Priebus the go-ahead to discredit the story publicly, which the FBI has not confirmed.
CNN first reported that Mr Priebus had asked the FBI for help and a White House official confirmed the matter on Thursday night. Yesterday, two other senior White House officials summoned reporters to a briefing.
The officials said Mr Priebus had a previously scheduled meeting with Mr McCabe the morning after the New York Times story was published. Mr Priebus and Mr Comey then spoke later in the day.
Mr Trump complained that the “FBI is totally unable to stop the national security ‘leakers’ that have permeated our government for a long time”.
“They can’t even find the leakers within the FBI itself. Classified information is being given to media that could have a devastating effect on US,” Mr Trump tweeted.
Mr Priebus’s discussions sparked outrage among some Democrats, who said that the chief of staff was violating policies intended to limit communications between the law enforcement agency and the White House.
“The White House is simply not permitted to pressure the FBI to make public statements about a pending investigation of the president and his advisers,” said Michigan representative John Conyers, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.