White House defends involvement in classified meetings

The White House defended its involvement in Thursday’s classified briefings to lawmakers, and said chief of staff John Kelly and Emmet Flood, one of President Trump’s personal lawyers, did not participate and were only there at the beginning to make “brief remarks” before the briefings started.

“Neither Chief Kelly nor Mr. Flood actually attended the meetings but did make brief remarks before the meetings started to relay the president’s desire for as much openness as possible under the law,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.