(FBI Director James Comey.AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
The FBI rejected a White House request to publicly shoot down news reports indicating that Russian operatives were in contact with President Donald Trump's inner circle before the election, CNN reported Thursday evening.
Trump administration officials wanted the FBI to disavow the reports and say there was no contact between people associated with Trump and Russia, the network said, citing multiple US officials familiar with the discussions.
CNN cited an unnamed law-enforcement official as saying the conversations began between White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe one day after the stories were published last week. FBI Director James Comey prevented the agency from weighing in on media reports, CNN said.
White House officials denied suggestions that they tried to goad the FBI into debunking news reports, CNN said. Additionally, the Trump administration has forcefully rejected allegations of contact with the Kremlin — and leveled harsh rebukes against US news organizations for using anonymous sources in their reporting.
The New York Times and CNN last week reported that the Trump campaign had frequent contact with Russian intelligence and government officials before Trump was elected president, news of interest because of US intelligence agencies' conclusion that Russia meddled in the election to help Trump.
Citing US law enforcement and intelligence agencies, The Times said in its report that the contact between Trump associates and Russian officials was discovered during a concurrent FBI investigation into cyberattacks the US has said Russia carried out targeting Hillary Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
(REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst)
Paul Manafort, Trump's former campaign manager who was also previously an adviser to a pro-Russia political party in Ukraine, was the only American named in The Times' report on February 14. In an interview with the newspaper, Manafort denied knowingly talking to Russian intelligence officials on behalf of the Trump campaign.
"I have never been involved with anything to do with the Russian government or the Putin administration or any other issues under investigation today," Manafort told the newspaper.
(Paul Manafort, then Donald Trump's campaign chairman, at the convention floor on July 18 before the opening session of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
He added: "It's not like these people wear badges that say, 'I'm a Russian intelligence officer.'"