photographers in Washington
© Jonathan Ernst / Reuters
The Department of Justice has warned the American public not to take at face value anything attributed to anonymous government officials, just before another such report got Washington speculating about an investigation of President Donald Trump's son-in-law.
"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 or agency of government - with which the alleged sources supposedly are affiliated," Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said in a statement Thursday evening. "Americans should be skeptical about anonymous allegations. The Department of Justice has a long-established policy to neither confirm nor deny such allegations."
Shortly after Rosenstein's statement, the Washington Post published a story claiming that Ivanka Trump's husband Jared Kushner - who plays multiple advisory roles in the Trump White House - is being investigated as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into alleged Russian election interference.

The story cited "US officials familiar with the matter" as the source. The Post has run a series of sensationalist stories about the Trump administration since January, usually attributed to "current and former US officials."

Rosenstein's statement is unusual, because previous US governments have frequently relied on officials speaking to the media on condition of anonymity in order to shape public opinion and float government proposals before they were officially announced.

Relations between the current administration and many mainstream news outlets have been downright hostile, however, with Trump accusing "killer networks" of spreading "fake news" about him.