Lawmakers are briefed on FBI informant
Dems say Trump allies could compromise inquiry
WASHINGTON – Lawmakers and White House officials gathered Thursday for two separate classified briefings on an FBI informant’s role in the investigation into suspected Russian interference in the 2016 election. It was an extraordinary concession to President Trump, who remains the most prominent subject of the inquiry headed by special counsel Robert Mueller.
Top Justice Department and intelligence officials hosted a group of Trump administration officials and Republican allies at Justice before moving to Capitol Hill to meet with congressional Democrats and Republicans who have clashed over whether such information should be provided to the White House and its allies in Congress.
“Nothing we heard today has changed our view that there is no evidence to support any allegation that the FBI or any intelligence agency placed a spy in the Trump campaign or otherwise failed to follow appropriate procedures and protocols,” top congressional Democrats said in a joint statement read by California Rep. Adam Schiff, the House Intelligence Committee’s ranking Democrat.
Earlier Thursday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., seized on the inclusion of White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and Emmet Flood, Trump’s White House counselor on matters related to the Russia inquiry, saying their presence at the meetings was “inappropriate” since the sessions could offer information on Trump’s sta- tus as a subject of the investigation.
The White House countered Thursday that Kelly and Flood did not attend the classified portions of the meetings and made only brief remarks before the sessions to “relay the president’s desire for as much openness as possible under the law.”
“They also conveyed the president’s understanding of the need to protect human intelligence services and the importance of communication between the branches of government,” the White House said.
Trump alleged that the FBI used the informant to conduct surveillance on his presidential campaign for political purposes. He has mounted a pressure campaign in recent weeks against his own Justice Department to disclose the informant’s role in the Russia investigation, which includes whether the presi- dent sought to obstruct the inquiry.
Reps. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, have led a band of conservative Republicans trying to out the informant’s role over the objections of the Justice Department. Their efforts are strongly supported by the president.
Trump has the constitutional power to give orders to officials overseeing the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election — even though his own campaign is the subject of that investigation.
Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s lead personal attorney in the Russia investigation, said a decision on whether the president agrees to an interview with investigators could turn on the release of the documents, which could expose the sources of information that led to the investigation.