White House press secretary Sean Spicer Thursday slammed a CNN report Wednesday that cited unnamed sources in disclosing FBI had information Trump associates might have communicated with Russia about releasing damaging information on Democrat Hillary Clinton during last year's election.
"The way that the term 'associates' is thrown around, I don't understand what you mean," Spicer told CNN politics reporter Sara Murray at the daily White House press briefing.
"When you use the term 'associates' — and you use all these subjective terms — there's a reason you're doing it, which is because you don't have anything concrete.
"When you do, come back and ask me: 'Is it anyone in the White House? Anyone in the transition?'
"But when you throw out a vague term like that, it's a catch-all," Spicer said.
Citing "unnamed U.S. officials," CNN reported the FBI's data — including intelligence, travel, business, and telephone records — could prove Trump associates might have helped Russia coordinate the release of the damaging Clinton information.
The report, however, emphasized the FBI's information was "not conclusive."
CNN quoted one unnamed law enforcement official as saying the information suggested "people connected to the campaign were in contact, and it appeared they were giving the thumbs up to release information when it was ready."
Other unnamed U.S. officials, however, told the cable network it was premature to draw the conclusion since most of the information obtained so far was largely circumstantial.
Spicer slammed the report Thursday for containing "one subjective term after another with no concrete proof.
"It was all one subjective term after another with no concrete proof," he said. "When you use a term like 'associates' — and you don't even put a timeframe around it — it's nebulous at best, making the claim that you do, and the narrative continues without any substantiation."
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