WASHINGTON - 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. Democrats accused Priebus of interfering in a pending investigation.
The officials said that Priebus' Feb. 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 Trump's 2016 campaign team.
As of Thursday, the FBI had not commented publicly on the veracity of the report and there was no indication it planned to, despite the White House's request.
White House officials said it was the FBI that first raised concerns about the reporting, but told Priebus the bureau could not weigh in publicly on the matter. The officials said McCabe and Comey instead gave Priebus the go-ahead to discredit the story publicly, something the FBI had not confirmed as of Friday morning.
CNN first reported that Priebus had asked the FBI for help and a White House official confirmed the matter to The Associated Press Thursday night. On Friday morning, two other senior White House officials summoned reporters to a hastily arranged briefing to expand on the timeline of events. (AP)