Sen. Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican and chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, “appears to have” briefed the White House as to the targets of an FBI probe, according to special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.
A redacted version of the report was released Thursday by the U.S. Justice Department.
Then-FBI director James Comey briefed congressional leaders, including Burr, about the bureau’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election on March 9, 2017. The briefing included “identification of the principal U.S. subjects of the investigation,” according to the Mueller report.
The week after that briefing, on March 16, 2017, the White House Counsel’s Office “was in contact with” Burr and “appears to have received information about the status of the FBI investigation,” according to the report.
Ann Donaldson, the chief of staff to the White House counsel, said the White House Counsel’s Office was briefed by Burr on the existence of four or five targets, the Mueller report states.