President Donald Trump blasted the FBI on Friday, saying it was incapable of stopping a series of embarrassing national security leaks.

The statement on Twitter - and on Facebook - followed leaks from his own White House which revealed that Trump's chief of staff had unsuccessfully asked the FBI to publicly discredit allegations that his presidential campaign was in touch with Russian intelligence throughout the election season.

'The FBI is totally unable to stop the national security "leakers" that have permeated our government for a long time,' Trump wrote.

'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.'

President Donald Trump blasted the FBI on Friday, saying it was incapable of stopping a series of embarrassing national security leaks. He tweeted his message before addressing CPAC

The FBI and Director James Comey (pictured) refused a White House request that the agency publicly rubbish reports claiming Trump's campaign was in constant contact with Russia

The morning intervention from the president came amid reports of a confrontation between the White House and the FBI.

CNN reported that the agency faced demands to knock down a story about contacts between Trump campaign staff and Russia which the FBI had privately told the White House was untrue.

The network said that it had been told that Reince Preibus, the White House chief of staff, spoke to Andrew McCabe, the FBI Deputy Director, at an event in the White House.

The network claimed an agency official said McCabe's chat with Priebus took place: 'on the sidelines of a separate White House meeting the day after the stories were published.'

The official who spoke to CNN for the report said Priebus also got in contact with McCabe, as well as Director James Comey, later on.

At that point, he allegedly asked if the FBI could at least speak to reporters about the allegations to knock them down - even if they would not go on the record.

Comey reportedly rejected that request, saying that the allegations were part of an ongoing investigation.

The White House official would not comment when asked if the administration was concerned about the appropriateness of Priebus' communications with McCabe.

The official was not authorized to disclose the matter publicly and insisted on anonymity.

A senior Trump administration official confirmed to White House reporters that the exchanges occurred after the CNN ran its report.

The direct contact between the White House and the agency breaches decade-old restrictions.

The senior official said that McCabe told Priebus at a Feb. 15 event that a New York Times story from the day before alleging improper contact between the Trump campaign and the Russian officials was 'BS'.

At that time, Priebus asked McCabe, 'What can we do about this?' The White House chief of staff said he was worried he was 'getting crushed' and asked, 'What am I supposed to do?'

McCabe said he'd get back to him, the senior official told reporters during a background briefing this morning. The FBI official called him later and said, 'We'd love to help but we can't get into the position of making statements on every story.'

Priebus then asked if he could cite 'senior intelligence officials,' instead, and McCabe told him he could. Comey called Priebus after that, the official said, and gave him a similar answer.

A new report alleges FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe (left) and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus (right) were the first to speak about smacking down the claims

The senior official was unsure about an ongoing FBI investigation into Trump's campaign with regards to Russia but didn't get the idea there was.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer complained on Friday morning that prior reports on the conversations were 'indefensible and inaccurate.'

He said Priebus' response to McCabe's comments about the validity of the Times article was natural. If the White House official had walked away without making an ask, 'How insane would that be?' Spicer said.

'What sane person would not want to set the record straight?' he told a group of journalists.

The reports of contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia were first published by The New York Times and CNN on February 14.

The Times claimed call records and intercepted conversations show: 'members of Donald J. Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and other Trump associates had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the election.'

The request from the White House claimed Trump's campaign team was in contact with Russian intelligence during the election. Trump is pictured on February 23

It also said the allegations were based off interviews it has carried out with four 'current and former American officials'.

The alleged contact was uncovered by US intelligence agencies that were working at the time to figure out if the president's campaign team was working with Russia in regards to the hacking of the Democratic National Committee or other attempts to influence the election.

The report was dismissed by the Kremlin.

'Let's not believe anonymous information,' Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call with reporters about the report, noting that the newspaper's sources were unnamed.

'It's a newspaper report which is not based on any facts.'

Trump has been shadowed by questions about potential ties to Russia since winning the election.

US intelligence agencies have also concluded that Russia meddled in the campaign to help Trump defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Last week, Trump fired national security adviser Michael Flynn because he misled Vice President Mike Pence and other White House officials about his contacts with the Russian ambassador to the US Flynn, who was interviewed by the FBI about his contacts, is said to have talked with the ambassador multiple times during the transition, including about American sanctions policy.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow on February 23

Putin is seen speaking with officers at the Kremlin press conference on February 23

Still, Trump and his advisers have denied contacts with Russian officials during the election.

Last week, Trump said 'nobody that I know of' spoke with Russian intelligence agents during the campaign.

Priebus alluded to his contacts with the FBI over the weekend, telling Fox News 'the top levels of the intelligence community' have assured him that the allegations of campaign contacts with Russia were 'not only grossly overstated, but also wrong.'

Democrat Sen. Ron Wyden said Priebus' comments opened the door for Comey to discuss the bureau's investigation publicly.

'If the White House chief of staff can make public claims about the supposed conclusions of an FBI investigation, then Director Comey can come clean with the American people,' Wyden said.

Justin Shur, a former Justice Department public corruption prosecutor, said it was imperative that Justice Department investigations not be swayed by political considerations.

'As a general matter, investigations and prosecutions should be about gathering the facts and the evidence and applying the law,' Shur said.

During the campaign, Trump and other Republicans vigorously criticized a meeting between then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former President Bill Clinton, husband of Trump's general election opponent.

The meeting came as the FBI - which is overseen by the Justice Department - was investigating Hillary Clinton's use of a private email address and personal internet server.