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FBI refused White House request to knock down recent Trump-Russia stories


Updated 12:19 AM ET, Fri February 24, 2017
By Jim Sciutto, Evan Perez, Shimon Prokupecz, Manu Raju and Pamela Brown, CNN
link



Washington (CNN)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, multiple US officials briefed on the matter tell CNN.

But a White House official said late Thursday that the request was only made after the FBI indicated to the White House it did not believe the reporting to be accurate.
White House officials had sought the help of the bureau and other agencies investigating the Russia matter to say that the reports were wrong and that there had been no contacts, the officials said. The reports of the contacts were first published by The New York Times and CNN on February 14.
The direct communications between the White House and the FBI were unusual because of decade-old restrictions on such contacts. Such a request from the White House is a violation of procedures that limit communications with the FBI on pending investigations.
Late Thursday night, White House press secretary Sean Spicer objected to CNN's characterization of the White House request to the FBI.
"We didn't try to knock the story down. We asked them to tell the truth," Spicer said. The FBI declined to comment for this story.

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 US law enforcement official.
The White House initially disputed that account, saying that McCabe called Priebus early that morning and said The New York Times story vastly overstates what the FBI knows about the contacts.
But a White House official later corrected their version of events to confirm what the law enforcement official described.
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. A law enforcement official says McCabe didn't discuss aspects of the case but wouldn't say exactly what McCabe told Priebus.
Comey rejected the request for the FBI to comment on the stories, according to sources, because the alleged communications between Trump associates and Russians known to US intelligence are the subject of an ongoing investigation.
The White House did issue its own denial, with Priebus calling The New York Times story "complete garbage."
"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," Preibus said on "Fox News Sunday" last weekend.
CNN has previously reported that there was constant communication between high-level advisers to then-candidate Trump, Russian officials and other Russians known to US intelligence during the summer of 2016.
Several members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees tell CNN that the congressional investigations are continuing into those alleged Russian contacts with the Trump campaign, despite Priebus' assertion that there is nothing to those reports.
It is uncertain what the committees will eventually find and whether any of the information will ever be declassified and publicly released. But the push to investigate further shows that Capitol Hill is digging deeper into areas that may not be comfortable for the White House.
The Trump administration's efforts to press Comey run contrary to 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 said Attorney General Jeff Sessions is reviewing the memos and that "the Department is following the guidelines in its communications with the White House."
The effort to refute the CNN and New York Times stories came as increasing numbers of congressional members were voicing concern about Russia's efforts to influence individuals with ties to Trump.
On February 17, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence held a briefing with Comey. It's unclear what was said, but senators suggested there was new information discussed about Russia.
"Every briefing we go through we gain new information," said Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, a member of the committee. Lankford declined to be more specific about the briefing.
Sen. Angus King of Maine also declined to reveal what was discussed during the Comey briefing. In response to a question on Priebus' strong denial of the claims, King said he was "surprised" that Priebus would be "that categorical."
Rep. Eric Swalwell of California, a Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee, said the goal of his panel's inquiry is to follow "leads wherever they go even if they may be uncomfortable to Republicans."
"The American public will want to know if the President had personal or financial ties to the Russian government," Swalwell said.
UPDATED: This story has been updated to reflect new information and comment from the White House.

More fake news from CNN. You should know better already.

The FBI has found nothing except that the NYTimes lied in a recent story.

The White House simply requested they make the truth be known.

Nope. 100% true and accurate, fodder for ending this madness.

LOCK HIM UP! LOCK HIM UP!

lol

Trump administration sought to enlist intelligence officials, key lawmakers to counter Russia stories

By Greg Miller and Adam Entous February 24 at 11:40 PM

The Trump administration has enlisted senior members of the intelligence community and Congress in efforts to counter news stories about Trump associates’ ties to Russia, a politically charged issue that has been under investigation by the FBI as well as lawmakers now defending the White House.

Acting at the behest of the White House, the officials made calls to news organizations last week in attempts to challenge stories about alleged contacts between members of President Trump’s campaign team and Russian intelligence operatives, U.S. officials said.

The calls were orchestrated by the White House after unsuccessful attempts by the administration to get senior FBI officials to speak with news organizations and dispute the accuracy of stories on the alleged contacts with Russia.

The White House on Friday acknowledged those interactions with the FBI but did not disclose that it then turned to other officials who agreed to do what the FBI would not — participate in White House-arranged calls with news organizations, including The Washington Post.

Two of those officials spoke on the condition of anonymity — a practice President Trump has condemned.

The officials broadly dismissed Trump associates’ contacts with Russia as infrequent and inconsequential. But the officials would not answer substantive questions about the issue, and their comments were not published by The Post and do not appear to have been reported elsewhere.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer confirmed that the White House communicated with officials with the aim of contesting reporting on Russia, but maintained that the administration did nothing improper. “When informed by the FBI that [the ­Russia-related reporting] was false, we told reporters who else they should contact to corroborate the FBI’s version of the story,” he said.

The decision to involve those officials could be perceived as threatening the independence of U.S. spy agencies that are supposed to remain insulated from partisan issues, as well as undercutting the credibility of ongoing congressional probes. Those officials saw their involvement as an attempt to correct coverage they believed to be erroneous.

The effort also involved senior lawmakers with access to classified intelligence about Russia, including Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the chairmen of the Senate and House intelligence committees. A spokesman for Nunes said that he had already begun speaking to reporters to challenge the story and that, “at the request of a White House communications aide, Chairman Nunes then spoke to an additional reporter and delivered the same message.”

Unlike the others, Nunes spoke on the record and was subsequently quoted in the Wall Street Journal.

In an interview, Burr acknowledged that he “had conversations about” Russia-related news reports with the White House and engaged with news organizations to dispute articles by the New York Times and CNN that alleged “repeated” or “constant” contact between Trump campaign members and Russian intelligence operatives.

“I’ve had those conversations,” Burr said, adding that he regarded the contacts as appropriate provided that “I felt I had something to share that didn’t breach my responsibilities to the committee in an ongoing investigation.”

The administration’s push against the Russia coverage intensified Sunday when White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said in television interviews that he had been authorized “by the top levels of the intelligence community” to denounce reports on Trump campaign contacts with Russia as false.

Priebus’s denunciations ranged from calling the articles “overstated” to saying they were “complete garbage.”

Administration officials said that Priebus’s comments had been cleared by FBI Director James B. Comey and Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. In doing so, the FBI’s leadership would appear to have been drawing a distinction between authorizing comments by a White House official and addressing the matter themselves.

Mark Warner, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he called CIA Director Mike Pompeo and Burr to express his “grave concerns about what this means for the independence” of the investigation.

“I am consulting with members of the Intelligence Committee to determine an appropriate course of action so we can ensure that the American people get the thorough, impartial investigation that they deserve, free from White House interference,” Warner said in a statement Friday night.

Rep. Adam B. Schiff (Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, issued a statement Friday evening saying that if the White House “contrived to have intelligence officials contradict unfavorable news reports, this represents a new and even more grave threat to the independence of the intelligence community.”

Former intelligence officials expressed concern over the blurring of lines between intelligence and politics, with some recalling Republican accusations that the Obama administration had twisted intelligence in its accounts of the 2012 attacks on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya.

“I doubt that there was any enthusiasm from the intelligence leadership to get involved in this in the first place,” former CIA director Michael Hayden said, noting that it seemed unlikely that Priebus’s bluntly worded denials were consistent with the “precise language” favored by intelligence analysts.

“Think Benghazi here,” Hayden said in an interview by email. “This is what happens when the intel guys are leaned on for the narrative of the political speakers. The latter have different rules, words, purposes. Getting intel into that mix always ends unhappily, [and] it looks like we just did.”

The Trump administration’s actions reflect its level of concern about coverage of its relationship with Russia. Trump has continued to praise Russian President Vladimir Putin, even after U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Russia had interfered in the U.S. presidential race to help Trump win.

Trump has also repeatedly disparaged the intelligence agencies that his administration last week turned to for support. Shortly before taking office, Trump accused U.S. spy agencies of a Nazi-style leaks campaign to smear him.

The White House statements on the issue Friday came after CNN reported that the FBI had refused administration requests to publicly “knock down” media reports about ties between Trump associates and Russian intelligence.

Administration officials disputed the account, saying that rather than soliciting FBI feedback, Priebus had been pulled aside by McCabe on the morning of Feb. 15 and told, “I want you to know” that the New York Times story “is BS.”

The FBI declined to discuss the matter.

White House officials declined to comment on the administration’s subsequent effort to enlist other government officials and would not agree to allow the identification of the intelligence officials who had spoken to The Post last week. In separate calls, those individuals insisted on being identified only as “a senior intelligence official in the Trump administration” and “a senior member of the intelligence community.”

In a brief interview on the night of Feb. 15, the senior intelligence official said that the suggestion that there was frequent contact between Russians and Trump associates was false, describing any conversations as sporadic, limited and based on Russia’s interest in building a relationship with the future Trump administration rather than shaping the 2016 presidential race.

The senior intelligence official appeared to be referring to contacts between Trump’s designated national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak before Trump was sworn in as president. Flynn was forced out of his job earlier this month after The Post reported that Flynn had discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with Kislyak and then misled Trump administration officials about the nature of his contacts.

Officials at the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment on whether senior officials at those agencies had discussed Russia coverage with the White House or been involved in efforts to refute stories on that subject.

CIA Director Mike Pompeo is the senior-most intelligence official in the administration, with former senator Dan Coats (R-Ind.) still awaiting confirmation as director of national intelligence.

As a Republican member of Congress, Pompeo was among the most fiercely partisan figures in the House investigation of Benghazi, which centered on accusations that the Obama administration had twisted intelligence about the attacks for political purposes.

It is not unusual for CIA leaders to have contact with news organizations, particularly about global issues such as terrorism or to contest news accounts of CIA operations. But involving the agency on alleged Trump campaign ties to Russia could be problematic.

The CIA is not in charge of the investigation. Given the history of domestic espionage abuses in the United States, CIA officials are typically averse to being drawn into matters that involve U.S. citizens or might make the agency vulnerable to charges that it is politicizing intelligence.

A U.S. intelligence official declined to discuss any Pompeo involvement except to say that he was “not involved in drafting or approving statements for public use by the White House this past weekend on alleged Russian contacts.”

Whether there were such contacts remains a major point of contention. Beyond Flynn, the investigation has focused on other figures including Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, who had previously served as a paid political adviser to the Putin-backed president of Ukraine.

U.S. intelligence reports cite multiple contacts between members of Trump’s team and Russians with links to the Kremlin, during the campaign and afterward, according to officials who have seen them. Such reports were based on intercepted Russian communications and other sources, the officials said.

Nunes, who served as a member of Trump’s transition team, has resisted calls for his House committee to investigate alleged contacts between Trump associates and Russia. He said in an interview that after months of investigations, U.S. authorities have turned up no evidence of such contacts.

“They’ve looked, and it’s all a dead trail that leads me to believe no contact, not even pizza-
delivery-guy contact,” Nunes said, appearing to rule out even unwitting contact between Trump officials and Russian agents. Investigators, Nunes said, “don’t even have a lead.”

Philip Rucker, Ellen Nakashima and Julie Tate contributed to this report.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/nat...m=.4ab36d05ab22

WOW! Corruption much? Worried about the TRUE NEWS?

Trump will never make it 4 years. The intelligence report shows his ban is not effective. The Congressional committee leaders rolled over on the White House. Chief of Staff Priebus now on the hot seat... But it's running like a fine oiled machine. LOL

How many of these threads do you guys need?

Endless whining needs endless threads.

Meanwhile,
Witches cast mass binding spell against Trump



Before taking office as president, Donald Trump called the controversy over Russian hacking during the 2016 election “a witch hunt.”



For some people who are disgruntled with Trump after one month in office, the witching hour has arrived.

A document making its rounds among the witch community is asking people who practice the craft to perform a monthly binding ritual until the president is removed from office, the Huffington Post reported.

In order to work, the mass spell must be performed at midnight EST on every waning crescent moon.

The first waning crescent happened Friday and will be followed by similar spell cast events on March 26, April 24 and May 23 and beyond, the Huffington Post reported.


http://www.ajc.com/news/national/witches...1JEMKTNWFzXw2J/

Call it crying or whatever, Trump has no clue and is already on his way out! lol.

Really, even Brietbart is reporting it much to my surprise.

I didn't think the president or his minions could even request something like that. not sure it's even proper.

But then again, this wingnut doesn't give a damn about right and wrong,,, He'd bought and paid for so he'll do what ever he's paid to do.

All I have to say is this:

I hope that Republicans remember all of the tactics being used by the Dems this time around, and that they use every one of them the next time a Dem in in the White House. (much as they are already doing with the 50 vote requirement for cabinet member, and federal judges below the Supreme Court)

Spicer on Friday walked through the timetable of events with reporters, stating that McCabe asked for five minutes on the sidelines of an unrelated meeting on Feb. 15, in order to tell him that the Times story was inaccurate. The FBI declined to state this publicly, but Spicer said FBI Director James Comey told Priebus that he or any other White House official could reasonably say they’d been told by senior intelligence officials that the story was inaccurate.

“They have made it very clear that the story is complete garbage.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/white-house-...ock-down-story/

Therefore, More Fake News!
Not that FACTS matters to the Left.

As much fun as being the eternal victim is, why would Republicans need to remember the Dems using tools the Republicans created?

Fake News!

You owe it to your boy, Senator Harry Reed for rigging the system you now face in Washington.

Yep. Reid created the system that allows for a 51+ vote tally for cabinet positions, federal judges, etc. He also created the system that allows the Majority Leader to kill anything coming from the House that he wants to, just by leaving it on his desk, and never adding it to the calendar .... essentially a desk veto.

Reid really screwed the Dems, but he knew that he was not going to seek re-election, so he didn't care.

But nary a tear was shed by the Democrats or the Left when he did such things.

Republican tears taste so well. I think it's all the extra salt that blinds them.




https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/pub...2299_story.html

According to 2016 Gallup data, only 32 percent of Americans trust the media “to report the news fully, accurately and fairly” — the lowest level in the research agency’s history.

Americans have figured out this slanted propaganda machine called the Press.

Resistance is Futile.

You're correct. Here's your Faux news to prove it...
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2...ion_threat.html

Futile.

I'm not surprised that Fox News would give a violent immigrant a platform. They don't care about Americans anymore.

When the poll says only 32 percent of Americans trust the media “to report the news fully, accurately and fairly”.

That would include FOX too.

Fox News Interviews Fake Expert on Sweden to Warn About Immigration Threat

I happened to be flipping through the channels when I saw this "fake sweedish guy" being interviewed on Fox and I could not figure out what his nationality he was based on his dialect. His speech kept drifting back to American..an obvious tip off.

Fox/O'Reilly had to know this guy was a fake and tried to pass him off as a supporter of Trump's fake claim that something happened in Sweeden...

Fox News, is THE FAKE NEWS..that is why Trump loves'em...

I had to laugh, knowing that many Americans actually believe the Fox News "fake stuff"..we are in unusual times.

I just heard from Fay Dunaway and Warren Beatty that Trump is innocent on this. Steve Harvey confirmed it.

End of thread.

Swedish police and politicians have come out and said Trump is correct in that Sweden is getting hammered by its refugees ... rapes, murders ... all kinds of other fun stuff u guys want to ignore both here and abroad ....

But u go ahead and *LYAO* at the "fake" news ... go ask the lady who had her rape live streamed on facebook how FAKE sweden's problems are ....

The sad part .. Trump gives u guys plenty of ammo .. no need to take crap like this and run with it .. u have plenty of LEGITE STUFF to run with ,.. your only making yourselves look foolish chasing things like this ...

Ever since 1996 the collation of crime statistics was initiated by the Council of Europe, Sweden has had the highest number of registered rape offences in Europe.

Who's ignoring what? Post a link.

Also Sweden has accepted 20,000 immigrants from the United States in 2016.

Maybe they are causing some of those crime issues. Nah not American's right? At-least not white American's right?

Let's spend more though.

So the cops and politicians in Sweden are all liars .. of course they are .. we wouldn't want to let the FACTS get in the way of a good stat ...

I'm not wasting my time debating with u .... all I'm gonna do is point out the FACTS whenever your doing what u do best .... and thats twisting everything to meet your point of view ...

Ha! Look at your list again. The United States pays to defend all the Countries on it except for China and Russia!

If we didn't have to spend that money, our part of the chart would be much smaller.

Actually I never have had a problem with military spending and agree that we should continue that course. But by cutting and not raising taxes for the wealthiest American's, and raising taxes on the middle class while cutting back healthcare and education is unacceptable.

What facts are you babbling about again?

Why is it people freak out over spending money for free education, but don't even pause when it comes to spending more money on the military? I know imperialism and spreading American exceptionalism is a conservative thing, but I'm shocked democrats don't say anything,

Because most dems on the hill have no balls.

Just wondering why you think this course is the right one to take?


Eisenhower (A republican and 5 star General during WW2) was the one who warned us about it. "Beware of the military industrial complex". I mean, the Department of Defense itself has 742,000 Civilian Personnel. Our active duty for is like 1.43 million. So that's like one civilian at the D.O.D. per 2 enlisted personnel.

Doesn't that seem crazy? And just take a look into the projects we pay for with defense contractors. It's absolutely sick. The waste is unbelievable. Buying things that the branches don't want/need and so forth.


No, no. Everything needs to be cut. Military especially. We've been hijacked by a government agency and a bunch of defense contractors.

From an insider's perspective, we do not need to spend more money on defense. I really don't get the double speak.

How can people chide the DoD for overspending and then want to give it MORE money...

How about we just fix the spending leverage (starts with Congress) using the money we already have...

I think a combination of both is the way to go.

Like the fighter jets, we need them but we also negotiated a lower price.

Nope.

I've made my thoughts - from a firsthand perspective - clear on the fighter jet situation in the F-35 thread. I won't rehash them all here. I'll just say I have developed a lot of contempt for defense contractors, working across the table from their business people.

The problem is that the DoD has become a pipeline to enormous defense contractor lobbyists. It's a plain and simple fact.

Prime example:

Army: we don't want more tanks.

Congress: Thanks for letting us know. Here's money for your tanks.