Mark Hensch

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) says the Department of Justice must probe reports that White House chief of staff Reince Priebus asked the FBI to push back on media coverage linking figures from President Trump's campaign to Russian intelligence. Reports emerged Feb 23 the FBI rejected a White House request to dismiss news stories about staffers from Trump’s campaign repeatedly contacting Russian intelligence agents.

“The Trump White House has been caught trying to pressure the FBI into undermining a vital national security investigation into explosive ties between senior Trump officials and Russian intelligence agents, an action which is in violation of Department of Justice rules and may be illegal,” Minority Leader Pelosi said. “White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus has committed an outrageous breach of the FBI’s independence,” Pelosi added. "Priebus has not only damaged his reputation but tainted the impartiality of the FBI.” “The Department of Justice’s Inspector General must open a new investigation into any and all conversations Priebus and other White House officials held with the FBI on ongoing investigations. The American people deserve to know the truth.”

Kellyanne Conway said that violent protests at the University of California, Berkeley, are the latest example of unrest partially fueled by the media. UC Berkeley initiated a campuswide lockdown Feb 1 after demonstrations broke out against a scheduled speech there by Breitbart senior editor Milo Yiannopoulos. “What’s going on out there is what’s going on all across the country,” said Conway. “You have protesters who feel very emboldened,” added Conway, who served as Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign manager. "They’ve got media cameras following them; they give interviews. I don’t even know if they know what they’re protesting. Really, what is it, the free speech? Having someone on your campus who has a dissenting point of view or wants to present an alternative point of view?”

Rep Peter King (R-NY) says lawmakers should investigate leaks of US intelligence to the media exposing Russian interference in the 2016 election. “This is not a trivial matter,” he said. "This is supposed to be top secret, classified information, which they won’t even give to the [House] Intelligence Committee but they’re leaking to the press. “That’s what’s really disgraceful about this,” Rep King added, noting how most lawmakers had not seen a classified report on Russia’s election meddling. "I think there should be a federal investigation into how that was leaked out.”

The Federal Election Commission may have found more than a thousand mistakes in the latest financial filing by Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, according to a new report. The FEC determined that Trump’s campaign accepted about 1,100 donations — totaling approximately $1.3 million — that may be in violation of various campaign finance laws. The commission sent Timothy Jost, the campaign's treasurer, a letter seeking clarification of Oct's financial filings.

The FEC’s message focused on two main concerns: whether Trump’s campaign accepted contributions from organizations not properly registered with the commission and whether donors giving to the Republican’s campaign exceeded legal donation limits. “If any apparently prohibited contribution in question was incompletely or incorrectly disclosed, you should amend your original report with clarifying information,” it states. "In addition, please clarify whether the contribution(s) received from the referenced organization(s) is permissible. If any apparently excessive contribution in question was incompletely or incorrectly disclosed, you must amend your original report with the clarifying information.”