2016 ELECTION/FBI/GOP/JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Broadening their political counterattack in defense of the White House, President Donald Trump’s allies in Congress are placing new scrutiny on contacts between top Justice Department officials and reporters covering the Trump-Russia investigation.
In recent weeks, GOP congressional investigators have publicly and privately questioned senior Justice Department and FBI leaders about interactions with reporters covering the Trump campaign’s connections to Russia. The goal, according to a half-dozen lawmakers and aides, is to expose any concerted effort by law enforcement officials to spin an anti-Trump narrative in the media through unauthorized leaks…
Last month, House Republicans cast public suspicion on communication they say occurred in the fall of 2016 between former FBI general counsel James Baker and a Mother Jones reporter who wrote stories at the time about the FBI’s probe of Trump-Russia ties. The lawmakers cited Justice Department documents for the claim but have provided no further details.
Republicans have offered no evidence of wrongdoing and say they are merely seeking more information for now. Democrats call the focus on reporter contacts the latest front in a wide-ranging campaign by some GOP lawmakers to discredit the Russia probe as an anti-Trump conspiracy fueled by what Trump has characterized as a ‘deep state’ determined to bring him down.
They also warn that Republicans are seeking to intimidate government officials and chill investigative reporting.”
-Kyle Cheney, “Republicans scrutinize FBI’s media contacts in Russia case,” Politico, Jan. 9, 2018 05:01am