Emmet Flood, the new lawyer for the White House overseeing its response to the Mueller probe, headed into the Justice Department with White House Chief of Staff John Kelly late Thursday morning and departed with him when the meeting was over. Flood also accompanied Kelly in and out of a second meeting held on Capitol Hill.

The first meeting included Rep. Trey Gowdy, Speaker Paul Ryan, Rep. Adam Schiff, Rep. Devin Nunes, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, Rod Rosenstein, and Chris Wray, as well as brief appearances from Kelly and Flood. The second included the Congressional “Gang of Eight,” the leaders of both parties from both chambers, as well as the heads of the intelligence committees.

Flood and Kelly left soon after appearing in the Capitol Hill meeting. More than one participant in that meeting told Flood his appearance was inappropriate, according to a Congressional official familiar with the meeting.

The White House downplayed Flood’s role in the meeting. In a statement, the White House press office said Flood and Kelly only went to the meetings to “facilitate” them.

“Neither Chief Kelly nor Mr. Flood actually attended the meetings but did make brief remarks before the meetings started to relay the President’s desire for as much openness as possible under the law,” the statement said. “They also conveyed the President’s understanding of the need to protect human intelligence services and the importance of communication between the branches of government.”

But Flood’s presence fueled the perception that the White House was trying to monitor the investigation into the Trump campaign. And Rudy Giuliani, one of Trump’s personal lawyers, helped.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3987399&forum_id=2#36136296)