In extraordinary meeting, Trump gets involved in congressional oversight of Russia probe

Show Caption Hide Caption Trump demands DOJ investigation into campaign political infiltration In a shocking move President Trump said he will ask the Department of Justice to investigate whether or not the FBI surveilled his 2016 Presidential campaign. For more on the story here is Zachary Devita.

WASHINGTON — President Trump met with top law enforcement and intelligence officials Monday to pressure them to turn over to Congress information about the origins of the FBI investigation into his own campaign.

The hour-long meeting in the Oval Office ended with an agreement to have the Justice Department's inspector general investigate any "irregularities" in the investigation into the Trump campaign, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly will also meet with congressional leaders and administration officials to mediate the dispute over the investigative documents, she said. Law enforcement and intelligence officials have resisted those demands, saying that releasing the documents could compromise their investigation and imperil covert sources.

The White House characterized the meeting as routine, and said it was scheduled last week. But it came a day after Trump demanded that the Justice Department investigate whether the FBI spied on his campaign for president in 2016.

The episode underscores the unique position Trump finds himself in: As president, he has the constitutional power to give orders to officials overseeing the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election — even though his own campaign is the subject of that investigation.

Trump's lead lawyer in the probe, Rudy Giuliani, said Monday that Trump called the meeting in his official capacity as president.

"He wants to make sure that the relevant members of Congress get a chance to see what they are entitled to see,” he told USA TODAY.

But he also said that whether Trump agrees to an interview with investigators could turn on the release of those documents, which would show the original sources of information that led to the probe.

“I think they could help us, if they show there is no original basis for the investigation," Giuliani said.

He added, “Every time we move in the direction of an interview, something weird happens.”

In the Oval Office Monday, Trump met with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, Sanders said. The meeting lasted less than an hour.

Even as the meeting was still going on, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York called Trump's demands "a blatant abuse of executive power and an ill-informed, sloppy attempt to discredit the duly constituted investigation" into his campaign.

"The president's behavior is the kind of grossly autocratic behavior we'd expect in a banana republic, not a mature democracy," he said.

Trump’s latest demands come in response to a New York Times report that a secret FBI source met with Trump campaign official several times during the 2016 campaign. The informant was working for the FBI as part of its ongoing investigation into Russian interference with the American election.

In a series of tweets Sunday, Trump complained about the Russia investigation and ended with an order to the Justice Department to investigate whether FBI agents had a political motive in launching the investigation.

"I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes - and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!" Trump tweeted.

The Justice Department immediately responded by referring the matter to Justice’s inspector general to determine whether there was “any impropriety or political motivation in how the FBI conducted it counterintelligence investigation of persons suspected of involvement with the Russian agents who interfered in the 2016 presidential election.”

Rosenstein, the top Justice official overseeing Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia inquiry, issued a separate statement Sunday, warning that if “anyone did infiltrate or surveil participants in a presidential campaign for inappropriate purposes, we need to know about it and take appropriate action.”

Earlier this month, Rosenstein warned that attempts to derail ongoing inquiries would not be tolerated and dismissed threats of impeachment by some House Republicans.

"The Department of Justice is not going to be extorted," he told an audience May 1 at a Newseum event that was billed as a discussion of the rule of law, the First Amendment and the department’s mission.

Congressional Republicans have been engaged in a months-long battle with Justice officials, seeking access to classified documents linked to the Russia investigation led by Justice special counsel and former FBI Director Robert Mueller.

Earlier this month the Republican chairmen of the House Intelligence and Oversight committees met with Rosenstein at the Justice Department in an attempt to reach an agreement for the unusual request for access—an effort strongly supported by Trump.

Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., chairman of the Intelligence panel, issued a subpoena for the documents last month, and has threatened to seek a contempt of Congress resolution against Attorney General Jeff Sessions if the documents are not turned over.

Justice officials have warned that granting such access and the risk of revealing the identities of intelligence sources could endanger their lives.

But Trump has pressured the Justice Department to comply, tweeting earlier this month that the refusal to turn over records to Congress shows "a rigged system."

"At some point I will have no choice but to use the powers granted to the Presidency and get involved!" he said.

On Monday, just as he was meeting with Rosenstein, Trump's re-election campaign sent out an email blast to supporters with the subject line "Worse than Watergate."

"THIS COULD BE THE GREATEST POLITICAL SCANDAL IN AMERICAN HISTORY," Trump said in the email. "I need you to sign your name right this second to join me in demanding this abuse of power gets investigated."