President Donald Trump
is blaming the FBI for failing to stop leaks to the media, saying the information is classified.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump blamed the FBI for failing to stop leaks to the media, saying the information being reported is classified and could have a “devastating effect” on the country.
Trump made the remarks in a tweet Friday. His tweet follows reports that White House chief of staff Reince Priebus had asked a top FBI official to dispute media reports that Trump’s campaign advisers were frequently in touch with Russian intelligence agents during the election.
“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,” Trump wrote.
Trump has chafed at a number of anonymously sourced stories, including numerous reports describing contacts between his campaign advisers and Russian intelligence agents, which the White House has disputed.
But the White House defended Priebus against accusations he breached a government firewall when he asked FBI Director James Comey to dispute media reports that Trump campaign advisers had been frequently in touch with Russian intelligence agents.
Trump’s spokesman Sean Spicer argued Priebus had little choice but to seek Comey’s assistance in rebutting what Spicer said were inaccurate reports about contacts during last year’s presidential campaign.
The FBI did not issue the statement requested by Priebus and has given no sign one is forthcoming.
Hours later, at the Conservative Policy Action Conference, Trump unloaded on the news media for using anonymous sources — hours after members of his own staff insisted on briefing reporters only on condition their names be concealed.
Later Friday, journalists from The New York Times, CNN and Politico were prohibited from attending an informal White House news briefing. A correspondent from the Washington Bureau, which represents the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune and other newspapers in the Tronc chain, also was barred. Reporters from Time magazine and the Associated Press, who were set to be allowed into the briefing, chose not to attend in protest of the White House’s actions.
The White House defended its decision. “We invited the pool so everyone was represented. We decided to add a couple of additional people beyond the pool. Nothing more than that,” said White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders.