Former Obama Administration Officials Meet With Lawmakers in Russia Probe

Jeff Sessions when the two men met during the 2016 presidential race.

The meeting took place behind closed doors, CNN reported on Friday, citing a USA official. He later said he did not recall discussing the Trump campaign with Kislyak.

Russian officials have repeatedly denied having meant to or interfere in the United States election and domestic affairs.

Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and top White House aide, also attended the meeting.

Spokeswomen for Senate Intelligence Committee leaders Sens.

She did admit to requesting the unmasking of some names redacted in raw intelligence reports but argued that the requests were well within her job duties as national security adviser and were in no way driven by political motivations to know which figures from the Trump campaign were being discussed.

Senate Judiciary committee chairman Sen. Grassley says he will not force the men to testify publicly next week.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly complained that the unmasking efforts and the Obama White House's handling of the Russian hacking probe have not received sufficient attention in the various investigations on Capitol Hill and by Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller. Trump Jr. was told the lawyer had damaging information that could be used against Democrat Hillary Clinton. The criticism alleges Rice was part of an effort to implicate members of the Trump campaign.

Grassley and Feinstein said Friday that they have issued a subpoena for Simpson to appear before the committee next week.

The committee has invited Trump Jr. and Manafort, the one-time chairman of the Trump campaign, to a Wednesday hearing on a law governing the registration of foreign lobbyists.

Susan Rice, who served as former President Barack Obama's national security adviser, quietly met behind closed doors Friday with Senate intelligence committee investigators probing Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential elections, according to an official familiar with the matter. A spokesperson for Rice confirmed the meeting and that it was voluntarily. Erin Pelton says Rice was pleased to cooperate with the investigation "given its extraordinary national significance".

Rice has come under fire by House Republicans and the Trump administration, who accused her of improperly revealing the identities of American citizens caught up in incidental surveillance during probes into Russian meddling in the election.

Manafort has denied any wrongdoing related to his Ukrainian work, saying through a spokesman that it "was totally open and appropriate". That is not an attack on the team.

On Friday, Conway said Americans are interested in the financial details of Mueller's staff: "Let's at least have the transparency and accountability speak for itself".

That's according to three people with knowledge of the matter.