White House Crosses Line, Asks FBI to Publicly Discredit Reports of Ties to Russia, FBI Refuses

‘The White House Is Simply Not Permitted to Pressure the FBI to Make Public Statements About a Pending Investigation’ Says Rep. John Conyers

Earlier this month White House officials requested the Federal Bureau of Investigation to discredit and knock down ongoing media reports detailing communications between persons associated with then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russian officials during the 2016 campaign.

First reported by CNN and then by The New York Times ten days ago, U.S. intelligence officials and others within the Justice Department aware of the request told both media outlets that not long after the reports surfaced detailing the contacts between Trump’s associates and the Russians, senior administration officials sought the help of the FBI and other U.S. agencies investigating the Russia matter to dispute the reports and state that those reports were wrong.

Direct communications between the White House and the FBI broke long held protocols and procedures first initiated by the Ford Administration in the wake of Watergate and is a violation of those decades old procedures that limit communications with the FBI 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,” Rep. John Conyers, Democrat of Michigan and the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, told the AP.

CNN reported Thursday that “the discussions between the White House and the bureau began with FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus on the sidelines of a separate White House meeting the day after the stories were published, according to a U.S. law enforcement official.” The White House publicly denied that version of the story claiming that McCabe called Priebus early that morning and said The New York Times story vastly overstates what the FBI knows about the contacts.

A senior administration official later contacted CNN and corrected the White House version of events to confirm what the law enforcement official described to the network. CNN also noted “the same White House official said that Priebus later reached out again to McCabe and to FBI Director James Comey asking for the FBI to at least talk to reporters on background to dispute the stories.”

FBI Director Comey rejected the request for the FBI to intervene stories, according to several sources, who told the New York Times, “because the alleged communications between Trump associates and Russians known to US intelligence are the subject of an ongoing investigation.”

Priebus himself labeled The New York Times story “complete garbage.”

During his appearance on Fox News last weekend, Priebus said, “The New York Times put out an article with no direct sources that said that the Trump campaign had constant contacts with Russian spies, basically, you know, some treasonous type of accusations. We have now all kinds of people looking into this. I can assure you and I have been approved to say this — that the top levels of the intelligence community have assured me that that story is not only inaccurate, but it’s grossly overstated and it was wrong. And there’s nothing to it.”  

The administration’s efforts to press the FBI Director violates two separate Justice Department procedure memos issued in 2007 and 2009 that limit direct communications on pending investigations between the White House and the FBI.

“Initial communications between the [Justice] Department and the White House concerning pending or contemplated criminal investigations or cases will involve only the Attorney General or the Deputy Attorney General, from the side of the Department, and the Counsel to the President, the Principal Deputy Counsel to the President, the President, or the Vice President from the side of the White House,” reads the 2009 memo.

The memos say the communication should only happen when it is important for the President’s duties and where appropriate from a law enforcement perspective.

A Department of Justice spokesman told CNN and the New York Times that incoming U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is reviewing the memos and that “the Department is following the guidelines in its communications with the White House.”

The White House and the FBI both declined comment.

Brody Levesque is the Chief Political Correspondent for The New Civil Rights Movement.
You may contact Brody at Brody.Levesque@thenewcivilrightsmovement.com

To comment on this article and other NCRM content, visit our Facebook page.