The Justice Department will allow lawmakers to review new documents related to the use of a confidential FBI source who talked to Trump campaign associates during the 2016 election, CNN reported Thursday, citing a senior DOJ official.
"The Department and FBI are prepared to brief members on certain questions specifically raised by the speaker and other members," the official said, referring to House Speaker Paul Ryan.
During the briefing, which is expected to take place Monday or Tuesday, officials will provide the new documents alongside files that were available during previous briefings but were not inspected by members at the time, the official told CNN.
It's a further capitulation for the agency, which initially resisted providing any information on the informant to politicians out of concern that lives could be endangered by violating the department's promises of anonymity to confidential sources.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, who is a close ally of President Donald Trump and subpoenaed the department for documents, has brushed off those concerns as a "spurious" attempt to skirt congressional oversight.
A spokesman for Nunes did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment. The DOJ did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.
Intelligence officials met with lawmakers in two confidential briefings on May 24 to discuss the FBI's reported use of an informant who spoke to Trump campaign members as part of its investigation of Russian meddling during the election.
Without offering any evidence, Trump has characterized the informant as a "spy" embedded in his campaign for "political purposes."
Some of his key allies in Congress have disputed Trump's assertion that the revelation of an informant could constitute what he calls the "all time biggest political scandal!"
After attending the late May briefing with intelligence officials, House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., said he is "even more convinced that the FBI did exactly what my fellow citizens would want them to do."
Ryan on Wednesday said he considered Gowdy's remarks "accurate," and added that he has "seen no evidence to the contrary of the initial assessment that Chairman Gowdy has made."