WASHINGTON

Trump blasts FBI for 'leaks' during ongoing Russia investigation

David Jackson, and Kevin Johnson

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — President Trump criticized FBI "leakers" Friday as he and aides sought to push back on news reports that his chief of staff asked the bureau to "knock down" stories about investigations into possible contacts between Trump campaign associates and Russian officials.

"The FBI is totally unable to stop the national security 'leakers' that have permeated our government for a long time." Trump tweeted.

The president said officials "can't even.find the leakers within the FBI itself. Classified information is being given to media that could have a devastating effect on U.S. FIND NOW."

Trump's comments came after CNN reported that "the FBI rejected a recent White House request to publicly knock down media reports about communications between Donald Trump's associates and Russians known to US intelligence during the 2016 presidential campaign."

The request came from White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, who has publicly said that FBI officials told him the stories were overblown.

FBI officials declined Priebus' request, because they did not want to appear to be providing an update on the investigation to White House officials. That was because the investigation involved people who were associated with the president, said a government official who was not authorized to speak publicly and was not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.

White House officials said the FBI informed Priebus that a New York Times story about the Russia investigation, and that the chief of staff only asked them to make their views public.

Possible contacts between Trump people and Russians are part of an investigation into Russian efforts to interfere with the 2016 election, including the hackings of Democratic officials close to Hillary Clinton.

Trump critics raised the issue of pressuring law enforcement.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California said Priebus "has committed an outrageous breach of the FBI’s independence," damaging both his reputation and "the impartiality of the FBI."

Evan McMullin, a former CIA official who mounted an independent presidential campaign against Trump last year, tweeted: "This seems like presidential confirmation that the White House asked the FBI to help cover Trump campaign ties to Russian officers."

In disputing the CNN story, White House officials said an FBI official approached Priebus during a meeting to deny the New York Times story about Trump associates and Russia. Priebus asked the FBI official whether the bureau would say that publicly; the FBI official said the bureau didn't want to get in a position in which it would have to comment on every story about a pending investigation.

"It was a discussion about a story in a newspaper," said White House spokesman Sean Spicer. "A story that was inaccurate."

Priebus did not demand anything of the FBI, he said.

When the FBI issue raised the issue of the Times story with Priebus, Spicer said, "Reince's natural response is, 'can you correct it? ... Can you help us correct it?' "

In addition to his tweets, the CNN story also appeared to inspire Trump to renew his attacks on the media during a speech to the Conservative Political Action Committee.

"I want you all to know that we are fighting the fake news," he said. "It's fake, phony, fake."

Since publication of the New York Times story earlier this month asserting repeated contacts between Trump associates and Russian officials during last year's campaign, federal authorities have privately expressed concerns that the report had overstated the government's conclusions.

Specifically, a U.S. official said, authorities had not definitively established the extent of the contacts and whether Trump associates were aware that they may have been communicating with Russian operatives. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity, because officials were not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation.

The official, however, said authorities were not seeking to completely refute the story, in part because the investigation was ongoing and that investigators may well reach the same conclusions outlined in the published report.

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