White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus on Sunday attacked The New York Times for a "fake news" report on contact between President Donald Trump's campaign and Russian spies.
In an interview on NBC News' "Meet The Press," Priebus said he'd "talked to the top levels of the intelligence community" and that they "assured me that that the New York Times story was grossly overstated and inaccurate and totally wrong."
"It is this sort of fake news stuff that is enormously important," Priebus said. "That when you get a front page story of The New York Times without a single source on the record saying that you're campaign had constant contacts…"
According to the Times' report, intercepted phone calls and phone records show several aides and allies to Trump's presidential campaign were in repeated contact with senior Russian intelligence officials. It's not clear who took part of those talks, or what was discussed.
"I know what the [House] Intelligence Committee and the House and Senate were told about it [by the FBI]," he said. "And I know what I was told and what I will tell you is that story was total baloney."
"And [California GOP Rep.] Devin Nunez, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee went on the record after he was informed by the FBI as to that story and what did he say? He said it was total garbage."
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