President Donald Trump at a meeting with manufacturing executives at the White House on Thursday. AP Photo/Evan Vucci President Donald Trump took a swing at the FBI on Twitter on Friday morning over government leaks to the news media.

"The FBI is totally unable to stop the national security 'leakers' that have permeated our government for a long time," Trump tweeted. "They can't even find the leakers within the FBI itself."

"Classified information is being given to media that could have a devastating effect on U.S. FIND NOW," Trump wrote in a follow-up tweet.

Trump may have been responding to a CNN article from Thursday evening reporting that the White House had requested that the FBI rebut news articles indicating that Russian operatives had communicated with Trump's inner circle before the election.

Trump administration officials wanted the FBI to disavow the reports and say there was no contact between people associated with Trump and Russia, the network said, citing multiple US officials familiar with the discussions. FBI Director James Comey reportedly refused to do so because the FBI was still investigating the subject.

Earlier this month, the president accused the intelligence community of leaking information to publications such as The New York Times and The Washington Post, singling out the National Security Agency and the FBI.

"Information is being illegally given to the failing @nytimes & @washingtonpost by the intelligence community (NSA and FBI?). Just like Russia," Trump tweeted.

He has also suggested that investigations and reports into his campaign's ties to Russia are "fake news," while the real focus should be on information leaks.

Bryan Logan contributed to this report.