Last week, several news agencies have attested to receiving calls from intelligence officials who attempted to counter news stories on President Trump's behalf. A report released by the Washington Post now confirms that the White House tapped several senior officials to make anonymous contact with publications. This was done in an effort to reverse the tide on scandals surrounding Trump's transition team's communications with Russian intelligence.
While the President's office admitted to directing the FBI to reach out to news organizations to dispute the validity of such stories, it did not disclose that officials from outside of the department had been steered to do the same. Press Secretary Sean Spicer denied any wrongdoing by orchestrating such actions, stating during a briefing that, “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.” According to the Post, however, officials called to dismiss contacts with Russia as infrequent and inconsequential, but wouldn't engage further inquiry into the issue by reporters.
The Post posed several issues with the White House's action. The paper pointed out the hypocrisy of Trump advising that the officials remain anonymous when only days ago he blasted the press for using anonymous sources in their coverage. Another conflict that arises, the publication reports, is the perception that Trump is compromising the independence of U.S. spy agencies while usurping the process of an ongoing congressional probe.
Source: twitter.com
