Top intelligence and law enforcement officials will brief a bipartisan group of House and Senate leaders on the FBI’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election Thursday, following widespread outcry from Democrats about being left out of the classified briefing that was originally planned that day for Republicans only.
Now there will be two briefings.
The first classified briefing at the Justice Department at noon will include only two Republican committee chairmen — House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif.; and House Oversight Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C. — along with White House chief of staff John Kelly, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, FBI Director Chris Wray, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, and additional FBI and DOJ briefers and staff, the Justice Department said Wednesday evening.
A second classified meeting will take place at the agency two hours later, at 2 p.m., and will include all members of the Gang of Eight: House and Senate leadership from both parties, as well as top lawmakers on the congressional intelligence committees. Gowdy will also be in attendance, along with Kelly, Rosenstein, Wray, and Coats.
The briefing scheduled exclusively for Nunes and Gowdy was reportedly set up to provide the chairmen details about an FBI informant who had contact with members of the Trump campaign. Revelations about this FBI source has riled Republicans, including Trump, who are raging about possible improper spying on his 2016 campaign.
The effort to queue up a bipartisan follow-up briefing marks a shift from the White House’s stance Tuesday, when press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters that Democrats would not be allowed to review classified documents used to launch the federal investigation into Trump’s 2016 campaign — and may have led to the FBI’s use of one or more informants during the presidential election — because they “never asked” to see the materials. The inclusion of Kelly in both briefings Thursday also represents a turnaround for the Trump team, which previously claimed that no member of the White House would attend despite playing a leading role in putting together a briefing.
Having a representative in the briefings could be important for Trump, whose lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, recently told Politico that his client should be allowed to obtain “exculpatory” evidence about the informant, even though Trump has not been charged in the Russia investigation.
It’s unclear what documents those attending the briefings will see, but Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., a key Trump ally who is head of the conservative Freedom Caucus, downplayed the Thursday’s importance, speculating it was unlikely the Justice Department would share materials, per Politico.
“They’re not going to see any documents tomorrow, so it doesn’t matter,” Meadows said, adding his prediction was based on “rhetoric” and his previous dealings with DOJ. “Going to a briefing without seeing the documents is worthless.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to exclude an earlier statement from the White House which indicated the bipartisan briefing would take place after Memorial Day weekend.
