NatSec Adviser O’Brien Denies Whistleblower Claim About Downplaying Russia Intel: ‘I’ve Never Heard of This Guy’

White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien joined Fox News’ Bret Baier Wednesday and responded to serious allegations from a DHS whistleblower about abuse of power and politicized intelligence gathering.

Brian Murphy alleges in his complaint that top officials sought to downplay or distort intelligence findings on a number of subjects from the U.S.-Mexico border to the threat of white supremacy.

One of his biggest allegations is that he was told to “cease providing intelligence assessments on the threat of Russian interference in the United States, and instead start reporting on interference activities by China and Iran.” Murphy claims that Acting DHS Sec. Chad Wolf told him “the intelligence notification should be ‘held’ because it ‘made the President look bad’.”

He also alleged that Wolf told him the direction to stop providing the Russia intel “specifically originated from White House National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien.”

Baier questioned O’Brien about this to ask, “The complaint itself refers back to you, saying that this instruction specifically originated from you. Is that true?”

“No, I’ve never even heard of this guy. I don’t know who he is, and it’s hearsay,” O’Brien responded. “He says he heard it from somebody else and in polite society, that’s the sort of thing that used to be frowned on. Now it gets news converge. It’s totally false. I don’t think there’s anybody that’s been tougher on Russia in this administration than I have been or the president has been, for that matter.”

O’Brien talked up Trump administration actions against Russia before saying, “But I will tell you one thing, China is a serious threat to our elections. Iran is a serious threat to the free and fair elections here, and I certainly want reporting on not just what Russia’s doing but on what China’s doing, what Iran and other bad actors are doing.”

“But I’ve never heard of this guy. It’s absurd,” he added.

You can watch above, via Fox News.