Reince Priebus Sweating Secret Comey Memos, White House Sources Say

[brooklynite]

Source: Daily Beast

President Donald Trump isn’t the only one in the White House who could be caught in a compromising position by James Comey’s secret memos. The president’s chief of staff is worried he could be soon in the crosshairs, as well.

Comey, the former FBI director who was fired earlier this month by Trump, took detailed notes of his interactions with the president and senior Trump administration officials in order to properly document conversations that were on the verge of improper.

Three White House officials told The Daily Beast that Chief of Staff Reince Priebus has privately expressed worry about a possible Comey memo specifically involving one of their reported chats, and how it might play in the press and to investigators.

“Nervous laughter,” one official succinctly characterized Priebus’ demeanor in the midst of recent revelations.

Read more: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/05/24/reince-priebus-sweating-secret-comey-memos-white-house-sources-say

[MGKrebs]

1. The leaks in this misadministration are crazy!

[redwitch]

6. I know!

I have never seen anything like it. How many leakers are there?

[MGKrebs]

9. This says three staffers heard this.

You wouldn't think he would say that sort of thing to "Obama holdovers". The backstabbing in there must be ferocious!

[redwitch]

11. How many Obama holdovers are left?

I thought everyone got replaced.

[cstanleytech]

17. If they have then there are two possibilities I can think of.

#1 Some of those claiming loyalty to Trump are lying.
#2 The leaks are being intentionally done so as to distract people from the anal rape the Repugnants are trying to do to the people of this country with healthcare, social security, Medicaid, Medicare, education and pretty much everything really.

[Scarsdale]

2. Rancid

is a weaselly faced toady. I want to see ALL of them lose their ill gotten gains, trying to protect themselves from PRISON.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

5. Biggest ill-gotten gain is the Presidency they stole via Elec. Coll. from the Majority vote winner

Hillary Clinton.

The Republicons must not be continually awarded the Presidency as one player or another in sequence resigns or is impeached or taken out by the 25th Amendment.

[bucolic_frolic]

3. According to Trump

Hillary and DNC emails should be hacked and publicized, but
Trump tax records and conversations are privileged private info

It's easy to get caught up in the details of each component but on a
larger scale the secrecy of information is a major issue

[janterry]

4. How it might PLAY to the press?

No, Reince, that's not it. It's about ethics, duty and honor. It doesn't matter at all how it plays. It matters what you did.

[Achilleaze]

7. If only republicans like Priebus were actually loyal to America

then they wouldn't have to sweat bullets. the republicans turncoats ought to be nervous, ought to be prosecuted, and ought to be punished.

[PatrickforO]

14. I like your coat of arms. Let justice be done though the heavens fall.

Very nice.

[BumRushDaShow]

8. I recall some articles

where it was mentioned how he was trying to get the whole Russia narrative dismissed.

For example this from February-

[*** White House chief of staff Reince Priebus asked a top FBI official to push back against news stories about contacts between Trump aides and Russians during the presidential campaign, Trump administration officials acknowledged Friday, drawing accusations from Democrats of improper interference into a pending investigation. White House officials dispute that Priebus did anything wrong, and a senior law enforcement official said FBI officials also did not consider any lines to have been crossed.

At issue is the reaction to a pair of stories from February 14, one in the New York Times and one on CNN. Each said that the FBI was examining evidence of contacts between Trump aides and Russians during the campaign — the Times called them "Russian intelligence officials," while CNN said "constant contacts" with "senior Russian officials."

Law enforcement and intelligence officials told NBC News at the time that there was indeed evidence of contacts between certain Trump aides and Russians, but that the U.S. had not determined that any of the Russians were intelligence operatives. Some of them had links to the Kremlin, sources told NBC News. The FBI is continuing to examine the evidence as part of its investigation into Russia's interference in the election, a campaign intelligence agencies say was designed in part to help Trump. Senate and House intelligence committees also are investigating.

On Friday, senior administration officials told reporters in a background briefing that FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe first raised the stories with Priebus, pulling him aside during an early morning meeting on Feb. 15 at the White House to tell him that the New York Times report was "garbage." (Friday's anonymous briefing, it should be noted, was held moments before President Trump denounced the media's reliance on anonymous sources during remarks before a conservative
group.)

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-aide-reince-priebus-asked-fbi-knock-down-russia-stories-n725261 ***]


Another write-up about the same incident in February -


[*** The Trump administration has enlisted senior members of the intelligence community and Congress in efforts to counter news stories about Trump associates’ ties to Russia, a politically charged issue that has been under investigation by the FBI as well as lawmakers now defending the White House.

Acting at the behest of the White House, the officials made calls to news organizations last week in attempts to challenge stories about alleged contacts between members of President Trump’s campaign team and Russian intelligence operatives, U.S. officials said.

The calls were orchestrated by the White House after unsuccessful attempts by the administration to get senior FBI officials to speak with news organizations and dispute the accuracy of stories on the alleged contacts with Russia.

The White House on Friday acknowledged those interactions with the FBI but did not disclose that it then turned to other officials who agreed to do what the FBI would not — participate in White House-arranged calls with news organizations, including The Washington Post.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-administration-sought-to-enlist-intelligence-officials-key-lawmakers-to-counter-russia-stories/2017/02/24/c8487552-fa99-11e6-be05-1a3817ac21a5_story.html ***]

[Scarsdale]

12. What are they HIDING?

Innocent people do not fear the light of day, or being asked questions about their actions. They are all protecting their own jobs and hides, but the sad part is NONE of them really know the true extent of tRump's scandals.

[PatrickforO]

15. They are hiding FROM the light of day.

The GOP is completely corrupted by neoliberal capitalism. Privatize, deregulate and gut social safety nets. The market will take care of everything. The private sector can always do it better, faster and cheaper. Government is the enemy, you should hate big government. Poor and disabled people are the enemy because they are just in it for a free ride and we pull ourselves up the bootstraps around here!

These are the attitudes the right wing has been propagandized to have. The reason: people who are ignorant, docile and mistrustful of one another will not notice the worker exploitation increasingly taking place as unions are crushed, and they will not notice the massive transfer of taxpayer monies from our treasury to corporate coffers.

So here's the thing: every time you are dismayed at some immoral act taking place, and you lift the rock to see what is squirming underneath, you find an old, white, male, liver-spotted hand, grasping for more profits.

[Still In Wisconsin]

10. I can almost guarantee you that Rinse Penis will be told to fall on his sword.

Rinse will be their Scooter Libby on this one.

[PatrickforO]

13. Nervous laughter???????????????????

Treason. This whole administration is rotten to the very core. Immoral, twisted and downright evil.

[TomCADem]

16. February 2017 - "FBI denies White House chief of staff Reince Priebus call"

Remember the Trump White House was irate back in February when there were leaks contradicting Reince Priebus's statements that the FBI had privately assured the administration that there was no investigation.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/fbi-denies-priebus-call-rebut-reports-trump-russia-ties-article-1.2980995

The FBI shot down a request from White House chief of staff Reince Priebus to dispute media reports that top Trump aides had regular contact with Russian agents during the presidential election, according to reports Thursday.

In defiance of decades-old restrictions on such contact, Priebus asked FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe to disavow the stories published by CNN and the New York Times last Friday, a White House official said.

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, a White House official added.

* * *
Priebus pushed back on the stories during several television appearances over the weekend. “We don’t know of any contacts with Russian agents,” he told NBC’s Chuck Todd, calling The Times story “total baloney.”