Review of classified information planned
Officials of FBI, Justice, Congress to look at Russia probe
WASHINGTON — The White House said Monday that top FBI and Justice Department officials have agreed to meet with congressional leaders and “review” highly classified information that some lawmakers have been seeking as they scrutinize the handling of the Russia investigation.
The agreement came after President Donald Trump made an extraordinary demand that the Justice Department investigate whether the FBI infiltrated his presidential campaign. It’s unclear exactly what the members will be allowed to review or if the Justice Department will be providing any documents to Congress.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump chief of staff John Kelly will broker the meeting between congressional leaders and the FBI, Justice Department and office of the director of national intelligence. She said the officials will “review highly classified and other information they have requested,” but she did not provide additional detail.
During a meeting with Trump, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray reiterated an announcement late Sunday that the Justice Department’s inspector general will expand an existing investigation into the Russia probe by examining whether there was any improper politically motivated surveillance.
Rep. Devin Nunes, an ardent Trump supporter and head of the House Intelligence Committee, has been demanding information on an FBI source in the Russia investigation. And Trump has taken up the
cause as the White House tries to combat the threat posed by special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into potential ties between Russia and the Trump campaign.
Trump tweeted Sunday, “I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes - and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!”
With the demand, Trump entered into the realm
of applying presidential pressure on the Justice Department, which values its independence.
Trump made the order amid days of public venting about the special counsel investigation. In response, the Justice Department moved to defuse the confrontation by asking its watchdog to investigate whether there was inappropriate surveillance.
The Justice Department probe began in March at the request of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and congressional Republicans. Sessions and the lawmakers urged Inspector General Michael Horowitz to review whether FBI and Justice Department officials abused their surveillance powers by using information compiled by Christopher Steele, a former
British spy, and paid for by Democrats to justify monitoring Carter Page, a former campaign adviser to Trump.
The back and forth between the Justice Department and Congress began with a classified subpoena from Nunes in late April. The panel didn’t publicize the subpoena, but the Justice Department released a letter it sent to Nunes rejecting the request for information “regarding a specific individual.” The department said disclosure could have severe consequences, including potential loss of human life.
Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, has called Trump’s claim of an embedded spy “nonsense.”