President Donald Trump's legal team wants a briefing on the classified information passed on to lawmakers about the origins of the FBI's Russian Federation investigation and may take it to the Justice Department as part of an effort to scuttle the probe, an attorney for the president said Friday. For months, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes, and other Trump allies in Congress had been really pressing the Justice Department and the FBI for some very, very sensitive materials related to the Russian Federation investigation.

MARTIN: So another aspect of the Russian Federation investigation - we learned yesterday Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, sat for a second interview with a special counsel team last month.

House and Senate lawmakers from both parties huddled with top intelligence officials Thursday for classified briefings after Trump accused the Justice Department of spying on his 2016 campaign. And he's still got two and a half years to go. Ryan will not attend, due to a "longstanding schedule commitment", according to spokeswoman AshLee Strong, and three Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans - Chuck Grassley (Iowa), John Cornyn (Texas), and Lindsay Graham (S.C.) - have also asked to attend.

The back and forth between Congress and the Justice Department has simmered for weeks.

Where oh where did they ever get the idea that the Republican nominee for president might be open to something so clearly illegal and unethical?

The White House later said in a statement that Kelly and Flood made brief remarks at the beginning of the meeting to "relay the President's desire for as much openness as possible" and departed before it actually began.

"SPYGATE could be one of the biggest political scandals in history!"

The intelligence grouping consists of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Paul Ryan, Pelosi, Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Richard Burr, top intelligence Democrat Mark Warner, Nunes and Schiff.

While Yates would not comment on the allegations of spying, deferring comment on the investigation to the Justice Department and FBI, she said she was confident the investigation would bear out the truth.

The argument that Halper was a spy planted in Trump's campaign, though, early on suffers from two significant flaws.

Trump's focus on the investigation - even on a weekend typically reserved for mourning soldiers who died in combat - underscored the degree to which the issue continues to obsess and frustrate the president, who believes it is an effort to delegitimize his presidency.

Democrats fought successfully to be included after the White House said Wednesday it planned only to brief two top Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday and make the bipartisan group wait until after the Memorial Day recess.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of SC was not in the meetings but, in a radio interview Friday, broke with the president to say a "confidential informant is not a spy", though he cautioned about investigations into campaigns.

The demand for a criminal investigation into the outing of a confidential government source could echo loudly in Washington.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller departs after a closed-door meeting with members of the Senate Judiciary Committee about Russian meddling in the election and possible connection to the Trump campaign, at the Capitol in Washington, June 21, 2017.

So, in other words, Trump's was demanding an investigation of the investigators who are investigating him. Nunes has sought documents - over the Justice Department's objection - about the source, even threatening to hold in contempt law enforcement leaders who didn't comply. And the White House said Kelly would organize the meeting with House lawmakers to discuss the documents, although he and other White House staffers would not be present. Giuliani acknowledged that the demand is irregular and as "as US attorney for the Southern District of NY, he never would have turned over all of his investigatory material to a potential target".

The briefings come as after the president demanded the Justice Department investigate unproven allegations that the Federal Bureau of Investigation spied on his2016 campaign. When asked if Trump told him that, Giuliani said no but that it's a safe assumption.