2016 ELECTION/DEMS/FBI/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Senior U.S. lawmakers attended classified briefings on Thursday [5-24-18] on the FBI’s probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election after President Donald Trump made unsubstantiated claims about a ‘spy’ being used against his campaign, and a top Democrat said afterward he heard nothing to support Trump’s allegation. The briefings were convened to allow lawmakers to review classified information relating to Trump’s unsubstantiated suggestion that the FBI under Democratic former President Barack Obama’s administration ‘implanted’ a spy for ‘political purposes’ into his 2016 presidential campaign to help his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton…An afternoon briefing on Capitol Hill followed an earlier session at the Justice Department. Initial plans had called for a single classified briefing with no Democrats present. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and White House Special Counsel Emmet Flood made brief remarks to those attending the meetings ‘to relay the president’s desire for as much openness as possible under the law’ but departed before the sessions officially started.”
-Sarah N. Lynch, Mark Hosenball, “U.S. lawmakers confer with intelligence officials on FBI Russia probe,” Reuters, May 24, 2018 4:52 am