Senate Intel heads meet with Mueller

The top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee met on Wednesday with special counsel Robert Mueller amid ongoing probes into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Lawmakers had pushed for the meeting since last month, when Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Mueller, the former director of the FBI, to run the bureau’s investigation into any ties between President Trump’s campaign and Russia.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Vice Chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.) said in a statement that they “had a constructive meeting” with Mueller “and we look forward to future engagements.”

The Senate panel leaders reportedly met with Mueller in a secure room on Capitol Hill, according to CNN. It was not immediately clear what Mueller and the senators running their committee’s own investigation into Russian election meddling had discussed.

Warner said last week that he and Burr had scheduled a meeting with Mueller.

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The meeting comes amid reports that Trump considered firing Mueller, only to change his mind after aides and political allies warned him that it would be politically damaging.

The meeting came amid a whirlwind week for the intelligence committee, which is among at least four congressional panels investigating possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and Moscow, as well as Russia’s broader efforts to influence the 2016 election.

Mueller was appointed last month to head up the federal investigation into those matters, after Trump abruptly fired FBI Director James Comey.

Comey told the intelligence panel last week that Trump fired him to undermine the bureau’s Russia probe.

It’s unclear whether Mueller’s team will share with congressional investigators a trove of memos authored by Comey that detail his one-on-one interactions with Trump. Comey said in his testimony last week that he had handed the documents over to the special counsel.

Warner said last week that he and Burr were in discussions with Mueller about viewing the memos. 

Updated: 3:23 p.m.