House Intelligence Committee Democrat Adam Schiff said Thursday that a classified meeting with Justice Department officials provided no evidence of President Donald Trump's claim that an FBI informant infiltrated his campaign.
"Nothing we heard changed our view there's no evidence to support any allegations that the FBI or any intelligence agency placed a spy in the trump campaign, or otherwise failed to follow appropriate procedures and protocols," Schiff, the Californian who is the panel's vice chairman, told reporters after the session.
Schiff attended both meetings held by Justice Department officials to address President Trump's claims. The second session included members of the "Gang of Eight" House and Senate leaders of both parties.
The earlier briefing included Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan; the GOP chairs of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Devin Nunes of California, and the House Oversight Committee, South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy; and the respective committees' top Democrats, Schiff and Virginia Sen. Mark Warner.
White House chief of staff John Kelly brokered both classified sessions — and he appeared briefly at both to make opening remarks, according to news reports.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, FBI Director Christopher Wray, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, and others from the FBI and DOJ participated in both sessions.
However, Emmet Flood, one of President Trump's personal attorneys on the Russia probe, made brief appearances at both briefings.
"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 Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.
Sanders said earlier this week that no White House officials would attend the meetings.
Democrats were outraged at the presence of Kelly and Flood at the classified sessions.
"Never seen a Gang of Eight meeting that included any presence from the White House," Warner told CNN's Manu Raju after the meeting.
"Those individuals left before the substance of it," he added. "Unusual times."
Warner also ripped the earlier session, describing it as "rogue" to a BuzzFeedNews reporter:
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