Article snippet: A White House lawyer’s appearance at two briefings Thursday on the FBI’s tactics in the Russian investigation was immediately criticized by Democrats, who said it raised serious questions about the administration’s motives for the meetings. They said Emmet Flood’s attendance at the beginning of the two meetings was a disturbing breach of the traditional firewall between the Justice Department and the White House and possible evidence that the meetings were a pretense to funnel information from the investigation to the president’s legal team. “Never seen a Gang of Eight meeting that included any presence from the White House staff,” Sen. MORE (D-Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence panel, said after the second meeting. “Unusual times.” Flood’s presence “only underscores [that] the President's legal team expects to use information gleaned improperly from the Justice Department or the President's allies in Congress to their legal advantage,” Rep. MORE (D-Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement. According to the White House, Flood and Chief of Staff MORE both left before the substance of the briefings — an account corroborated by Democrats who were in the room who nonetheless saw it as inappropriate. The two meetings were set up by Kelly amidst Republican demands for information on the FBI’s use of a confidential informant in the early months of the counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign.... Link to the full article to read more