In the aftermath of Donald Trump's surprise cancellation of his meeting with Kim Jong-un, another bizarre piece of news almost slipped under the radar — that the president's new attorney Emmet Flood was spotted leaving the Justice Department after a pair of classified briefings on the FBI's alleged surveillance of the Trump campaign.
CNN's Laura Jarrett reportedly saw Flood leaving the DOJ with House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA), House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-SC), House Majority Leader Paul Ryan (R-WI) and White House chief of staff John Kelly.
According to the New York Times, Flood briefly attended the first of the back-to-back meetings. Kelly, on the other hand, sat through both — a move the Times said was "highly unusual in a sensitive congressional oversight briefing and it raised the specter that the top aide to the president could gain access to closely held information about an investigation of the president and his associates."
As CNN's Manu Raju pointed out, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters Tuesday that nobody from the White House would attend the meeting — a claim refuted by Kelly and Flood apparently leaving said meetings.
The back-to-back briefings — one for Gowdy and one for Nunes — were held after Trump tweeted a demand that the DOJ investigate an FBI informant that surveilled his 2016 presidential campaign. The president has dubbed the revelation, which was first reported by the Times, "Spygate."
