Sen. Mitch McConnell views North Korea as so important right now that he requested a Defense Department briefing for all 100 senators. Even though such briefings are regularly done at the Capitol—where there's several areas equipped to handle large groups receiving sensitive information—Donald Trump seemed to want to make a show of it. He offered up the Eisenhower Executive Office Building right next to the White House and considered part of the White House grounds. It's by most counts, a little odd. But will the commander in chief of our military show? Who knows, writes The Week.
Amid U.S.-North Korean tensions so high that defense analysts warn one misstep could lead to war, all 100 senators are meeting at the White House Wednesday afternoon for a special, unusual briefing on North Korea from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, intelligence chief Dan Coats, Defense Secretary James Mattis, and Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It isn't clear if President Trump will attend at all, though a senior administration official told CNN "if he attends — which is not determined — it will just be a brief drop-by." [...]
"That meeting is a Senate meeting led by Leader McConnell, just utilizing our space," White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday. "We're not there to talk strategy." A McConnell spokesman said President Trump offered the auditorium at the Eisenhower Office Building when McConnell requested a briefing. "I, frankly, don't understand why it's not easier to bring four people here than it is to take 100 there," said Sen. Angus King (I-Maine).
Um, what? That “space” isn’t even in properly secured.
The auditorium will be temporarily turned into a “sensitive compartmented information facility,” or SCIF, which is the term for a room where sensitive national security information can be shared, the official said.
So the military escalation with North Korea is so important that all 100 senators are trekking down to a makeshift SCIF in the EEOB and Donald Trump might casually "drop-by" if he shows at all? Maybe Trump’s just waiting to get the skinny over some chocolate cake at Mar-a-Lago.