As President Trump left town to deliver a commencement speech at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy amidst a whirl of controversies surrounding the fallout from his decision to fire FBI Director James Comey, his daughter Ivanka Trump was holding court in the White House for a bipartisan meeting on human trafficking.
Two Democratic Senators, Amy Klobuchar and Heidi Heitkamp, attended the meeting, along with Republican Senator Bob Corker, five Republican members of Congress, and 10 leaders of organizations who work to combat human trafficking.
Reporters were allowed into the room for approximately three minutes of the meeting, during which Ivanka Trump touted the importance of combatting modern slavery, calling it “a moral and strategic interest domestically and abroad.”
According to a White House spokeswoman, the meeting was a follow-up to a discussion to a meeting Ivanka, the President, and trafficking organization representatives held in February.
Heitkamp’s office only said the meeting was a discussion about ways to stop human trafficking.
“Sen. Heitkamp has long been a vocal advocate to combat human trafficking and today’s discussion was about how to accomplish that goal,” said a representative from Heitkamp’s office.
The meeting comes one day after the New York Times, citing a memo from Comey, reported that Trump asked Comey to stop the investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn one day after he resigned following revelations that he had discussed sanctions with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, despite initially saying he had not.
Klobuchar tweeted about these events Wednesday, arguing that a special prosecutor — which the White House and Congressional Republicans do not want — is warranted. Her office did not respond to request for comment about the meeting.
Agree w @preetbharara – Need to restore faith in the rule of law. Independent commission & special prosecutor now. https://t.co/Q8NIp8zieo
— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) May 17, 2017