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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhite House contacts with FBI take Russia scandal in new direction
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/white-house-contacts-fbi-take-russia-scandal-new-direction?cid=sm_fb_maddowWhite House contacts with FBI take Russia scandal in new direction
02/24/17 08:00 AM
By Steve Benen
Last week, multiple news organizations reported that members of Donald Trumps campaign team had been in contact with Russian officials before Election Day, despite claims to the contrary. Those communications, if true, would mean the Republican officials were speaking with Vladimir Putins government even as it was illegally subverting the American election.
Almost immediately, the White House denounced the coverage, but according to a CNN report, thats not all the White House did: Team Trump also reached out to the FBI, even as the bureaus investigation was ongoing.
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.
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.
Overnight, the West Wing didnt exactly deny the outreach to the FBI, but rather, tried to put as benign a spin on the developments as possible. We didnt try to knock the story down, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said. We asked them to tell the truth.
We now know, of course, that the FBI rebuffed the White Houses requests and officials at the bureau said nothing about the underlying allegations. The trouble, however, is that the White House reaching out to the FBI at all has the potential to be a scandal unto itself.
To borrow Watergate framing, it shifts the focus to the cover-up instead of the crime.
This isnt complicated: members of Team Trump are facing a federal investigation, and there are rules in place that severely limit the communications between the FBI and the White House. Reince Priebus, apparently, either didnt know or didnt care about those restrictions which in turn raises questions about possible obstruction and interference with an ongoing FBI probe.
Indeed, lets not forget that Priebus himself, as recently as Sunday, publicly confirmed that the White House had spoken with the FBI leadership about some aspects of the investigation into the Russia scandal.
The first thing to note was [White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus] answer to a question from NBCs Chuck Todd: Did [National Security Advisor Michael Flynn] mislead the FBI or lie to the FBI when agents interviewed him on January 23 about his telephone conversations last December 28 and 29 with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak?
Im just not in the position to answer it, Priebus said, but then he added, Certainly weve talked about that issue with leadership at the FBI, but Im not in a position to talk about that with you.
That raises the question: What are the conflicts of interest involved with the White House talking with FBI leadership about whether a senior White House official misled or lied to agents? If Flynn lied to FBI agents, that could be a felony. Who from the White House, talked to whom at the FBI, about what?
Priebus went on to say, We have talked about this. I think weve laid it out very clearly and now its up to the [Department of Justice] and the FBI to take it any further, if thats what they do.
Im just not in the position to answer it, Priebus said, but then he added, Certainly weve talked about that issue with leadership at the FBI, but Im not in a position to talk about that with you.
That raises the question: What are the conflicts of interest involved with the White House talking with FBI leadership about whether a senior White House official misled or lied to agents? If Flynn lied to FBI agents, that could be a felony. Who from the White House, talked to whom at the FBI, about what?
Priebus went on to say, We have talked about this. I think weve laid it out very clearly and now its up to the [Department of Justice] and the FBI to take it any further, if thats what they do.
What did the White House lay out very clearly?
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