Story highlights The FBI said they had to rely on a third-party source for information

The DNC did not immediately respond to a request for comment

Washington (CNN) The Democratic National Committee "rebuffed" a request from the FBI to examine its computer services after it was allegedly hacked by Russia during the 2016 election, a senior law enforcement official told CNN Thursday.

"The FBI repeatedly stressed to DNC officials the necessity of obtaining direct access to servers and data, only to be rebuffed until well after the initial compromise had been mitigated," a senior law enforcement official told CNN. "This left the FBI no choice but to rely upon a third party for information. These actions caused significant delays and inhibited the FBI from addressing the intrusion earlier."

This statement is in response to reports that the FBI never asked the DNC for access to the hacked systems.

The DNC told Buzzfeed News that they did not receive a request from the FBI to access their computer servers.

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