Report: Spicer Orchestrated CIA, GOP Push-Back Calls With Press
According to a new report by Axios, Donald Trump’s White House press secretary, Sean Spicer orchestrated phone calls between Republican members of Congress, CIA officials and reporters to try and cover up Trump-Russia scandal stories.
The Axios report notes that Spicer connected the outside officials with reporters and then stayed on the line to listen in on their conversations.
The officials included CIA Director Mike Pompeo and Senate Select Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, according to the Axios report who cited a senior administration official.
The phone calls that Spicer put together were meant to push back on a New York Times report that Trump associates were in constant communication with Russian intelligence officials during the campaign.
It is exceptionally rare for a CIA director to talk with the press, according to Axios, “Intelligence officials from the Obama administration said it’s rare for the CIA director to talk directly to a single journalist – that in the past, the director usually was held in reserve to talk to a publisher or executive editor in a case where a news organization was contemplating publishing something that could harm national security.”
