As former FBI Director James Comey delivered testimony to the Senate intelligence committee Thursday, those inside the White House were consistently updating the president, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.
Trump, who going through his typical morning routine and attending meetings inside the executive mansion, missed the top of the hearings but did receive a regular stream of news from top aides. At one point, Trump did spend some time watching the hearing with a rotating cast of senior staffers, but did not spend an extended period of time in front of the television, according to multiple sources.
According to a source monitoring the testimony with Trump, the reaction in the White House is that Comey "sounds stale" and it was found to be "remarkable" that the director orchestrated a friend to share information about meetings with the president to the press.
Trump spoke Thursday afternoon at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority Conference in Washington, D.C., where he shied away from direct comment on the intelligence committee hearing.