Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein released a statement Thursday night urging Americans to be skeptical of any news stories that attribute their information to anonymous officials.
Rosenstein is the Justice Department official who was put in charge of any matters relating to Russian collusion or interference with the 2016 presidential election, after Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself in March.
The full statement reads:
Americans should exercise caution before accepting as true any stories attributed to anonymous 'officials,' particularly when they do not identify the country—let alone the branch of agency of government—with which the alleged sources supposedly are affiliated. Americans should be skeptical about anonymous allegation. The Department of Justice has a long established policy to neither confirm nor deny such allegations.
The statement was most likely resulting from several news pieces released by the Washington Post and New York Times that were quoting unnamed sources regarding the probe, Business Insider reports.
Rosenstein's statement was released immediately after the Washington Post reported that the leader of the Russia investigation, special council Robert Mueller, was investigating the business dealings of Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and close adviser. The article attributed unnamed American officials.