UPDATE (1-14-19): The translator in the room with Trump and Putin in Helsinki was Marina Gross. She is a veteran State Department interpreter.
Gross' job is to blend into the background and seamlessly help two leaders communicate. But now there is mounting interest in seeing Gross step into the spotlight, as Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs and Intelligence Committees seek an explanation for what exactly transpired behind closed doors in Helsinki.
Gross, a translator for the State Department, can be seen sitting near Trump in images of the Helsinki, Finland meeting. Putin also had an interpreter at the meeting.
Gross has worked as a translator for the government for years, at least as far back as 2008 when she accompanied former First Lady Laura Bush to Sochi, Russia as her interpreter. She was also seen alongside former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Moscow in April 2017.
Interpreter from Trump-Putin summit may be forced into congressional spotlight (ABC News)
Meet Marina Gross, the interpreter who was the only other American in the room for Trump and Putin's 1-on-1 meeting in Helsinki (Business Insider)
A Democratic aide tells ABC News that House Intelligence and Foreign Affairs committee lawyers will get together Monday to discuss legal options for obtaining President Trump's interpreter's notes from meetings with Vladimir Putin.
The Washington Post reported Saturday the president has actively worked to hide details of the leaders' conversations, even from his own administration officials.
"This raises a new host of questions," the aide told ABC News. "We're looking into the legal implications of that, and we'll discuss our options. Our lawyers are sitting down with intel committee lawyers to hash it out."
The Hill source cautioned that they are not drafting subpoenas, but instead reviewing the best way forward and which committee would submit the request, should they decide to make it. The source told ABC News that a committee vote is still weeks away.
In the days following the Helsinki summit in July, when Trump sat down with Putin and only their interpreters, Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee filed a motion to subpoena the U.S. interpreter, but it was quickly shot down by Republicans.
House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff tweeted his interest on Sunday in reopening those efforts.
"Last year, we sought to obtain the interpreter’s notes or testimony, from the private meeting between Trump and Putin," Schiff tweeted. "The Republicans on our committee voted us down. Will they join us now? Shouldn’t we find out whether our president is really putting “America first?”
(...)
Some within the Democratic caucus have argued against subpoenaing the president's interpreter because it would set a new precedent that could be problematic for future administrations by making it more difficult to conduct face-to-face diplomacy. The interpreters have high security clearances and that may create restrictions. There's also a legal argument that the president's executive privilege extends to the interpreter.
House Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel of New York recently announced that he's forming a separate investigative subcommittee to investigate Trump's interactions with Putin.
“Every time Trump meets with Putin, the country is told nothing," Engel said in a statement.
"We will be holding hearings on the mysteries swirling around Trump’s bizarre relationship with Putin and his cronies, and how those dark dealings affect our national security.”
The foreign affairs committee aide said subpoenaing the interpreter was previously seen as a nuclear option, but Democratic members have warmed to the idea because of the new argument that documents may have been removed from the public domain.
Even though Congress will issue the subpoena to the State Department, the White House could step in to try to slow or block the request.
House lawyers meeting Monday to evaluate subpoenaing Trump's interpreters: Democratic aide (ABC News)