Report: FBI rejected White House request to publicly dispute Trump-Russia stories

FBI Director James Comey. — (Image credit: Pool/Getty Images)

After several news organizations reported that Donald Trump's advisers were in constant contact with Russian intelligence officials during the 2016 presidential campaign, the White House requested the FBI publicly denounce the stories, muliple U.S. officials "briefed on the matter" told CNN Thursday.

The White House wanted the FBI and other agencies investigating the matter to say that the Feb. 14 reports from The New York Times and CNN were false and the two sides never communicated, the officials said, but FBI Director James Comey rejected the request, made by White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, because of the ongoing investigation of ties between Trump associates and Russians known to U.S. intelligence. The White House is not supposed to directly communicate with the FBI, and such a request violates procedures that limit contact with the FBI over pending investigations.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.