FBI Director James Comey tried to go public last summer about Russia's meddling in the presidential election but he was blocked by Obama administration officials, two sources told Newsweek in a report published on Wednesday.
"The White House shut it down," one source said. "They did their usual — nothing."
Both individuals spoke to Newsweek on the condition of anonymity "because they weren’t authorized to speak to the press," the report said.
In June or July, Comey pitched the idea of writing an op-ed — eyeing for The New York Times — about Moscow's moves in a meeting at the White House, according to the sources.
"He had a draft of it or an outline," one source told Newsweek. "He held up a piece of paper in a meeting and said, 'I want to go forward, what do people think of this?'"
The meeting, according to the source, included Secretary of State John Kerry, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and National Security Adviser Susan Rice.
They "didn’t like the idea," Newsweek reported. Any announcement should come from a single message backed by several agencies, the source said.
"An op-ed doesn’t have the same stature, it comes from one person," the source said.
The piece would have included much of the information disclosed in the declassified intelligence report that was released on Jan. 6, a second source told Newsweek.
That report disclosed that Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to influence the election.
Comey's op-ed, however, would not have said whether the FBI was investigating Trump associates' dealings with Russia, the second source told Newsweek.
On Oct. 7, DHS and the Director of National Intelligence accused Putin's government of tampering in the presidential election.
In addition, Comey told the House Intelligence Committee on March 20 that the FBI had been investigating Russian interference since July and whether any possible ties between Moscow and Trump associates.
When asked about Comey's efforts last year, an FBI spokesman told Newseek: "In general we have not been adding to the director’s comments regarding Russia at the March 20 hearing."
A Justice Department spokesman also declined to comment.
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