Pelosi: Trump ‘Stooge’ Nunes Is ‘Deeply Compromised’

Moreover, Nunes’ actions were widely considered a political stunt created to provide Trump cover for his evidence-free tweets accusing President Barack Obama of having illegally wiretapped him in Trump Tower prior to the election. That accusation has been mostly dismissed.

Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, Mr Devin Nunes said it was possible that Mr Trump’s own communications were also intercepted and disseminated among USA intelligence agencies.

Representative Jim Himes, a Connecticut Democrat on the committee, was incredulous Nunes would scurry off to brief a president “who is potentially a target of this investigation”.

Back in the US, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee said Wednesday he’s uncovered evidence that USA intelligence agencies swept up communications by Donald Trump’s transition team-and possibly from the president-elect himself-after the November election.

In the Gateway Pundit post, a video shows a reporter asking House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes if he can “rule out the possibility that senior Obama administration officials were involved”.

Nunes would not say whether his source was affiliated with the White House or what type of incidental collection had occurred – whether it was direct conversations between Trump or his team and a foreign agent, or whether two foreign entities were simply picked up discussing the president. In fact, it actually ends up looking kind of bad for the president – and suggests Nunes is in over his head on the intelligence committee.

Whether Nunes meant to keep his Democratic committee members in the dark as he ran to the White House to speak with the subject of his investigation is unknown.

FBI Director James Comey testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 20, 2017, before the House Intelligence Committee hearing on allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 USA presidential election. Nunes said that all incidental surveillance he had seen was done so legally. The Intelligence panel – along with the FBI – is investigating Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 presidential campaign and the suspected ties of Trump’s associates to the Kremlin. He said he was sick, he basically committed a felony, he tapped Trump Tower.

As part of the ongoing Justice Department investigation, the F.B.I.is reviewing “human intelligence, travel, business, and phone records and accounts of in-person meetings”, according to the CNN report.

Also, on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer reacted to Trump’s previous statement calling Obama a “bad or sick guy”.

Trump later told reporters he feels at least somewhat validated too. Questions about his campaign’s ties to Russia have been compounded by USA intelligence agencies’ assessment that Russia interfered with the election to help Trump triumph over Hillary Clinton, along with disclosures about his aides’ contacts with a Russian official. He defended National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who was forced to resign after it was revealed he lied about discussing sanctions with Russian Federation while Obama was still in office. The committee is also investigating potential leaks by the intelligence community.

The House and Senate intelligence committees are conducting investigations into Russian election interference.

Trump said he felt “somewhat vindicated” by Nunes’ briefing, although nothing Nunes said suggested that Trump or his associates had been targeted for surveillance. It is illegal and totally inappropriate for communications of USA citizens who are not subjects of a criminal or counterintelligence investigation to be disseminated widely within the government, never mind leaked to the American public.

Schiff slammed the chairman for acting as if he were a “surrogate of the White House”.

Third, Nunes flatly denied any link between what he saw and the Russian intelligence probe: “None of this surveillance was related to Russia, or the investigation of Russian activities”.