Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said Tuesday that President Donald Trump told him he was doing “a good job” with the panel’s investigation into Russian meddling in the U.S. election.
The congressman told Yahoo News’ Katie Couric that after he arrived Friday at the White House to look at intelligence reports previously viewed only by House Intelligence Committee Chair Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), Trump asked to meet with him and he agreed.
“The President began the meeting by saying, ‘So are you getting to see everything you want?’” Schiff told Couric.
At that point, Schiff said he told Trump that his staff director had been denied access to the documents. In Schiff’s telling, the President said that he was fine with staff viewing the reports, after which Schiff “could hear a lot of grumbling from the President’s staff.” He said his staff director was ultimately able to review the documents.
Schiff said that he spent most of the conversation focused on infrastructure, not on the committee’s investigation.
“I tried to emphasize—because frankly I didn’t want to talk about the Russia investigation—that infrastructure was an area where we ought to be able to find common ground,” Schiff told Couric.
Couric asked if the two discussed the Russia probe further and whether Trump “tweaked” Schiff.
“No,” Schiff replied. “He said I did a good job, and that was about all the commentary I got from the President on that. It was a perfectly cordial meeting.”
Watch the interview via Yahoo News:
