'It's a f---ing circus': Experts are floored that White House officials attended highly classified briefings about the Russia probe
- National-security experts and legal experts were "gobsmacked" by senior White House officials' attendance Thursday at a classified briefing about the Russia investigation and a suspected FBI informant on the Trump campaign.
- The White House chief of staff, the White House counsel, three GOP lawmakers, and one Democrat met with deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein, FBI director Christopher Wray, and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats to glean more details about the suspected informant and other details of the Russia probe.
- One former FBI official described the situation, and President Donald Trump's and his allies' broadsides against the DOJ, as a "f---ing circus."
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The president's chief of staff and the White House counsel attended a classified briefing Thursday with top Justice Department officials and lawmakers about an investigation into the president and his associates - and the events have floored national-security experts and former intelligence officials.
When the White House announced the first of the two briefings earlier this week, it said chief of staff John Kelly would not be attending.
One former FBI official said they were "gobsmacked" when they learned the chief of staff would be present after all.
"This is an investigation centering squarely around the president and his cohorts," said this person, who requested anonymity to speak candidly. "And we've got the president's chief of staff attending a classified briefing - and getting sensitive intelligence - about said investigation. It's a f---ing circus."
When it emerged later that Emmet Flood, the new White House counsel, also attended the briefing, the person added: "This is truly mind-boggling."
Renato Mariotti, a longtime former federal prosecutor in Chicago, expressed a similar view.
"It is completely inappropriate for a lawyer representing a subject of the investigation to attend the congressional oversight meeting in which nonpublic information about the investigation was revealed," he tweeted following the first briefing. "What possible legitimate purpose could his attendance have served?"
The first briefing Thursday included Kelly, Flood, deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein, FBI director Christopher Wray, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes and ranking member Adam Schiff, House Oversight Committee chairman Trey Gowdy, and House Speaker Paul Ryan.
Schiff was invited at the last minute after Democrats slammed Nunes and Gowdy for what they described as a partisan briefing that could be weaponized against the DOJ and the special counsel Robert Mueller.
The second briefing included Kelly, Rosenstein, Wray, Nunes, Schiff, and most other members of the Gang of Eight, a bipartisan group consisting of the Republican and Democratic leaders of the intelligence committees and the majority and minority leaders of the House and Senate. Ryan, citing scheduling conflicts, said he would not be able to attend the second briefing.
Thursday's briefings come as tensions between the White House and DOJ are at a boiling point, with the Russia investigation, Mueller, and a suspected FBI informant at the eye of the storm.
The individual's identity was confidential at first but several media outlets later reported that Stefan Halper, a veteran of previous Republican administrations and a former professor emeritus at Cambridge University who was in touch with several members of the Trump campaign, was the informant.
Reports about the source sparked a flurry of unproven accusations from Trump and his loyalists that the FBI was spying on the Trump campaign during the election. The president subsequently requested that the DOJ investigate the matter.
The DOJ agreed to Thursday's briefings, both of which include details about the informant and the Russia probe, after a series of back-and-forths with Congressional Republicans and the White House over protecting the person's safety.
White House accused of playing politics
CNN reported Wednesday that Trump told Kelly he wanted Thursday's briefings to appear nonpartisan, and to ensure that Democrats were able to view the classified intelligence so the White House would not look like it was playing politics.
Trump was reportedly annoyed when it emerged that Democrats were initially barred from the first briefing, because he did not want the revelation to overshadow what he believes to be the bigger picture: a conspiracy against him and his administration by the top ranks of the DOJ and FBI.
Meanwhile, Kelly's and Flood's attendance likely further complicated the optics.
Robert Deitz, the former general counsel at the National Security Agency and senior counsel at the CIA, said he was "astonished" that Democrats were initially shut out of the first briefing and that Kelly and Flood were present as White House officials.
"It's almost like Kelly's there as a minder," Deitz said. "This is always the tricky part of investigating the President of the United States. The investigators are working under the guy being investigated."
Kelly's and Flood's "presence there is certainly not helpful, particularly in a case like this."
The chief of staff's and White House counsel's attendance went far from unnoticed by Democratic lawmakers on the House Intelligence Committee.
Rep. Mike Quigley, who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, slammed Nunes' broadsides against the DOJ and said Kelly's and Flood's presence only assisted Nunes' "underlying mission: to protect the president's political reputation at all costs."
"The partisan probe into our law enforcement agencies is a farce, and all of those in Trump's inner circle are on board," Quigley added.
The danger of leaks
Meanwhile, national-security experts sounded the alarm over what they characterized as the "troublesome" revelation of the identity of the suspected FBI informant and details about the individual that were likely shared in Thursday's briefings.
"This puts the intelligence community and the DOJ in a bind, no question about it," Deitz said. "The fact that Halper's name has been released or leaked is a problem."
He added that while the US's reputation makes it unlikely for allies to sever ties completely, "it certainly may make foreign allies in some circumstances hesitant to reveal the crown jewels."
The former FBI official echoed that view, highlighting the potential obstacles that could arise in the US's intelligence-gathering process with its partners.
"Trust is the single most important factor in the intelligence community," they said. "Human intelligence sources are the FBI's greatest asset, especially when it comes to assessing foreign threats. How many people are going to want to do that work if there's a risk, aggravated by the White House, that their name will be leaked and their life threatened if the president is unhappy?"