Washington (CNN) Two senior administration officials on Friday vehemently argued that White House officials acted appropriately in asking the FBI to publicly knock down media reports about communications between President Donald Trump's associates and Russians known to US intelligence.

The White House was reacting to CNN's exclusive reporting that White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus asked the FBI to say the reports were wrong after Deputy Director Andrew McCabe told Priebus some of the coverage was inaccurate. The White House Friday said both McCabe and FBI Director James Comey in a separate conversation rejected that request, multiple US officials briefed on the matter told CNN.

The senior administration officials who gathered reporters Friday morning to defend the White House request to the FBI confirmed that Priebus spoke with both McCabe and Comey about the reports of contacts between Trump campaign advisers and Russians known to US intelligence. But the officials said Priebus didn't initiate the conversation with McCabe that sparked the request to knock down the story. Rather, the officials said McCabe "asked for five minutes alone" and called the reports "BS."

The senior administration officials said Priebus expressed his concern to McCabe that Priebus was "getting crushed" on the story and asked him, "What am I supposed to do?" McCabe then called Priebus to say the FBI could not comment on the reports.

The officials said that Comey later called Priebus to echo McCabe's message, that he believed the story to be inaccurate, but that the FBI could not "get into the position of making statements on every story."

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