The “Gang of Eight” is Washington shorthand for the congressional leaders who are privy to almost all secret intelligence information held by the U.S. government.
They are the majority and minority leaders in the Senate, the Speaker of the House and the House minority leader, and the ranking Democrats and Republicans on the House and Senate Intelligence Committees.
When briefed that the FBI was opening a counterintelligence investigation of President Trump in May 2017, none of the Gang of 8 objected, says former FBI director Andrew McCabe
“That’s the important part here, Savannah,” McCabe told NBC’s Savannah Guthrie. “No one objected. Not on legal grounds, not on constitutional grounds and not based on the facts.”
At the time, the Gang of Eight included Republican senators, Richard Burr and Mitch McConnell, and Republican representatives Devin Nunes and Paul Ryan, In public, they all have defended the president and portrayed him as the target of partisan witch hunt
In private, when presented with the facts of the case, they did not care to make that argument, McCabe says.
McCabe’s story further undermines President Trump’s claim that he has been targeted by a cabal of “deep state” radicals. Even his allies could not dispute the FBI’s case that the president had to be investigated for his dealings with Russians.
Source: McCabe: No One In Bipartisan Gang Of 8 Pushed Back Against FBI’s Trump Probe – Talking Points Memo
