White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Tuesday that a meeting between law enforcement officials and congressional investigators to discuss release of Russia-probe documents will happen Thursday.
President Trump charged chief of staff John Kelly with organizing the meeting Monday after summoning law enforcement officials to discuss reports of an FBI informant speaking with members of his campaign.
Sanders said “no one from the White House will attend” the Thursday meeting. Attendees, she said, will include House intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., House Oversight Committee chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C.
FBI Director Christopher Wray, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, and Justice Department official Edward O’Callaghan also will attend, she said.
Although Kelly was tasked with setting up the meeting, Sanders said that “at this point [he] is not expected to attend.”
Sanders did not identify the meeting venue.
Congressional Democrats were not invited to participate because “to my knowledge the Democrats have not requested that information,” Sanders said.
Nunes and some fellow Republicans in Congress have sought access to information on surveillance of Trump’s campaign, including the reported informant work of Cambridge University professor Stefan Halper, who met with at least three Trump campaign advisers.
Earlier in the day, Trump appeared to soften his suggestion that there was an FBI “spy” embedded within his campaign.
“If they had spies in my campaign, that would be a disgrace for this country. That would be one of the biggest insults that anyone’s ever seen, and it would be very illegal, aside from everything else. It would make probably every political event ever look like small potatoes,” Trump said, before adding: “We want to make sure that there weren’t. I hope there weren’t, frankly.”
