FBI and Justice Department officials on Thursday are scheduled to brief the bipartisan group of lawmakers known as the “Gang of 8” on classified documents related to the special counsel’s Russia investigation.
According to Fox News, the first meeting will be happening at the Justice Department headquarters at noon and will include White House Chief of Staff John Kelly; Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein; FBI Director Christopher Wray; Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats; House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, and House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Trey Gowdy.
The second meeting which is scheduled for 2 p.m will include Kelly, Rosenstein, Wray, Coats, Gowdy, Republican and Democratic leaders from both the House and Senate as well as the top lawmakers from their intelligence panels. Both House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and U.S. Senator. Mark Warner, told Fox News they plan to attend the second meeting. Warner is vice chairman of the Senate intelligence panel.
The second meeting was planned after criticism from Democrats who said that the briefing should have been given to the “Gang of 8” as opposed to just Nunes and Gowdy.
“If anyone did infiltrate or surveil participants in a presidential campaign for inappropriate purposes, we need to know about it and take appropriate action,” Rosenstein said in a statement announcing the move.
When White House press secretary Sarah Sanders announced the first meeting she said that no Democrats had been invited because they had not requested the information.
Meanwhile, White House spokesman Raj Shah told Fox News that a separate meeting between the “Gang of 8” and Justice Department, law enforcement, and intelligence officials would take place after Congress returns from its Memorial Day recess.
However, Shah said in an updated statement late Wednesday that the White House was “working” to schedule a “Gang of 8” briefing before the recess.
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