The top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee appears to have shared with the White House information about the FBI’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, special counsel Robert Mueller revealed in his long-awaited report Thursday.
Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., was among the congressional leaders who received a briefing from then-FBI Director Jim Comey in March 9, 2017 about the bureau’s ongoing investigation into Russian meddling, during which the “principal U.S. subjects” of the probe were identified.
The briefing took place before Comey testified before the House Intelligence Committee on March 20, 2017 and confirmed publicly for the first time the existence of the FBI’s investigation into Russia’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 election.
“The week after Comey’s briefing, the White House Counsel’s Office was in contact with [Senate Intelligence Committee] Chairman Senator Richard Burr about the Russia investigations and appears to have received information about the status of the FBI investigation,” Mueller wrote in his report.
A footnote in Mueller’s 448-page report that cites notes from Annie Donaldson, chief of staff to then-White House counsel Don McGahn, states the briefing by Burr occurred March 16, 2017 and revealed the “existence of 4-5 targets” of the FBI’s Russia probe.
The targets are identified in Donaldson’s notes as former national security adviser Michael Flynn, former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, former Trump campaign aides Carter Page and George Papadopoulos, who was referred to as “Greek Guy,” and an unidentified individual.
McGahn and Donaldson “both said they believed these were targets of” the Senate Intelligence Committee. However, the panel “does not formally investigate individuals as ‘targets,’” Mueller said in his report.
“The notes on their face reference the FBI, the Department of Justice and Comey; and the notes track the background materials prepared by the FBI for Comey’s briefing to the Gang of 8 on March 9,” the report stated.
Donaldson told the special counsel’s office she “could not rule out” that Burr told McGahn the individuals were targets of the FBI’s probe.
Caitlin Carroll, a spokeswoman for Burr, said he “does not recall this specific conversation with Mr. McGahn in March of 2017.”
“However, any conversations between the two would have been in reference to the need for White House personnel to voluntarily comply with the Senate Intelligence Committee’s Russia investigation,” said Carroll. “If specific individuals were discussed, they would have been those known to the Committee, the White House, and the media. The Chairman’s stewardship over the Committee’s bipartisan and fact-based investigation over the last two years speaks for itself.”
The Senate and House Intelligence Committees both launched their own investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, which proceeded alongside the probe that was first handled by the FBI and then overseen by Mueller following his appointment in May 2017.
Mueller concluded his 22-month investigation last month when he delivered his report to the Justice Department, and Attorney General William Barr released the report with limited redactions to the public Thursday.
