FBI Director Chris Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein met with President Trump at the White House today. It was described as a routine meeting, though the spy allegations were a likely topic—and yes, they did come up. The Hill reported that Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats would also be at the meeting:
The outcome could determine whether Trump decides to trigger a full-blown crisis with the Justice Department (DOJ) over his frustration with the Russia probe.
Trump ratcheted up the pressure on the law enforcement agency Sunday when he made his demand for a probe into allegations that there was an informant inside his 2016 campaign, an extraordinary request that few past presidents have made.
The DOJ moved to defuse tensions late Sunday when it asked the agency’s inspector general (IG) to look into whether there was improper surveillance of the Trump campaign.
The Russian collusion sideshow has reached new heights after it was revealed that a secret source was embedded in the Trump campaign, and that they were feeding information to the FBI. The allegations, even an insinuation, that the DOJ/FBI was keeping tabs on the Trump campaign was largely written off as a conspiracy theory.
Well, now, it seems both Mr. Wray and Rosenstein found the information to be significant enough to instruct the DOJ IG to expand its initial inquiry. And the Trump White House will work with Congress to review the sensitive material that they’ve been requesting for months:
Based on the meeting with the president, the Department of Justice has asked the Inspector General to expand its current investigation to include any irregularities with the Federal Bureau of Investigation or the Department of Justice’s tactics concerning the Trump Campaign. It was also agreed that the White House Chief of Staff Kelly will immediately set up a meeting with the FBI, DOJ, and DNI together with Congressional Leaders to review highly classified and other information they requested.
JUST IN: White House releases statement on President Trump's meeting with Deputy AG Rosenstein, Director of National Intelligence Coats and FBI Director Wray. pic.twitter.com/6DgT3ipmTq
— NBC Politics (@NBCPolitics) May 21, 2018
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UPDATE: Democrats are not happy with the White House-Congress joint effort to review classified information.
Schumer: The WH plan to arrange a meeting where ‘highly classified and other information’ will be shared with members of Congress is highly irregular and inappropriate. The president..should not be involved in the viewing or dissemination of sensitive investigatory information
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) May 21, 2018