(WN)President Trump, after a brief hiatus,
returned to throwing Twitter bombs Friday morning to accuse his own FBI of
failing to crack down on leaks – on the heels of reports about a conversation
his chief of staff had with the bureau about Russia-related allegations.
Reports surfaced overnight that Reince
Priebus had asked a top FBI official to dispute media reports that Trump's
campaign advisers frequently were in touch with Russian intelligence agents
during the election.
The White House pushed back, claiming in
response that while Priebus did speak with FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe,
McCabe initiated the contact to inform Priebus that The New York Times report
about campaign contacts with Russia was incorrect. Trump, who has been battling
leaks in several federal agencies since his inauguration, on Friday blasted the
bureau for apparently letting that conversation go public.
“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 U.S. FIND NOW,”
he wrote.
Priebus' reported discussion with McCabe
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 on pending investigations.
"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 Rep. John Conyers, the top
Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. But Politico reported that,
according to White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, Priebus had merely asked
the FBI “to inform journalists of the same point that they were making to
us."
Fox News has learned that McCabe indeed had
initiated the conversation, asking to speak with Priebus for a few minutes at
the end of an intelligence meeting last week. During that conversation, McCabe
informed the chief of staff that the Times story was wrong.
Priebus wanted to know what he could do, but
apparently was told later by McCabe that the FBI couldn’t be calling balls and
strikes on every news story. FBI Director James Comey later told Priebus he
could go out and refute the story, which he did.
WN first reported that Priebus had asked the
FBI to weigh in on the matter.The report marked the latest damaging leaks out
of the Trump administration. Trump, meanwhile, has been shadowed by questions
about potential ties to Russia since winning the election. U.S. intelligence
agencies earlier concluded that Russia meddled in the campaign to help Trump
defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Last week, Trump fired national security
adviser Michael Flynn because he misled Vice President Pence and other White
House officials about his contacts with the Russian ambassador to the U.S.
Flynn, who was interviewed by the FBI about his contacts, is said to have
talked with the ambassador multiple times during the transition, including a
discussion about U.S. sanctions policy.
Still, Trump and his advisers have denied
having had contacts with Russian officials during the election. Last week,
Trump said "nobody that I know of" spoke with Russian intelligence
agents during the campaign.
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