Sen. Chris Murphy (D., Conn.) cast doubts Wednesday on the security of the White House facilitating a North Korea briefing to the U.S. Senate, calling the situation "a show."
In an unusual move, all 100 U.S. Senators were summoned to the White House for a briefing on the North Korean situation by senior administration members, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis. The Washington Post reported that the White House setting "perplexed" lawmakers, who were used to receiving similar briefings on Capitol Hill.
CNN correspondent Jim Sciutto found Murphy before he headed to the White House briefing and asked him if he expected to hear anything new about the North Korean threat.
"I don't have a sense what we're going to understand. As you know, normally these briefings take place at the Capitol where we have a secure facility," Murphy said. "I'm not really sure how secure this facility is. I'm not sure whether we're going to be able to receive the kind of classified information that we would here. That's a little concerning to those of us who are making this trip."
VIDEO - @ChrisMurphyCT: I’m Not Sure How Secure the W.H. Facility Is and ‘That’s Concerning’ https://t.co/n30NpyfbsS
— Grabien (@GrabienMedia) April 26, 2017
Sciutto relayed the grumblings he'd heard from other senators who were concerned that the Trump administration was putting on a "dog-and-pony show" by bringing the lawmakers to the White House.
"Do you think there's something more substantive beyond that?" Sciutto asked.
"Well, I hope there's something substantive here," Murphy said. "I mean, of course this is a show. These briefings always happen here at the Capitol. We're being brought over to the White House to be briefed, I think, by people who don't work at the White House ... so that all of you are here with your TV cameras to cover it all. There's of course showmanship to this."
He added they were "adults" and would go where President Donald Trump wanted to discuss the situation.
Sen. Cory Gardner (R., Col.) ripped questions a day earlier on CNN about the site of the North Korea briefing, calling them "stupid."