Chief of Staff Reince Priebus Tried to Squash the Story of FBI Investigation

February 24, CNN reported that Chief of Staff Reince Priebus “asked the FBI to knock down media reports about communications between Russian officials and Trump associates.”

“We didn’t try to knock the story down. We asked them to tell the truth,” Press Secretary Sean Spicer told CNN late Thursday.

Photo credit: Getty
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Longstanding procedures limit communications between the White House and the FBI regarding pending investigations.

Today, FBI director James Comey testified that the FBI is conducting an ongoing, active counterintelligence investigation into Russia’s influence into the U.S. 2016 elections, and any coordination between Russian officials and Trump team members.

Comey said in the hearing:
"I have been authorized by the Department of Justice to confirm that the FBI, as part of our counterintelligence mission, is investigating the Russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election and that includes investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and Russia's efforts. As with any counterintelligence investigation, this will also include an assessment of whether any crimes were committed."
 
Interfering in an active FBI investigation is against the law.

The Politico story from February can be found here.
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/reince-priebus-fbi-discussion-white-house-rules-236192
 
The CNN story from February 24 can be found here.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/24/politics/white-house-denies-wrongdoing/
 
The entire transcript from today's House Intelligence Committee hearing can be found here.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/03/20/full-transcript-fbi-director-james-comey-testifies-on-russian-interference-in-2016-election/?utm_term=.4fa0755b053a

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