Dickerson: Trump trying to make Flynn investigation seem like “political muddle”

And the official named by the New York Times who dug up the information was a Bannon/Kushner protege who was hired by Mike Flynn and was in the process of being moved out of his job by Flynn’s successor when Trump himself intervened. Top Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff of California argued the intelligence committee is incapable of conducting a fair and impartial investigation due to the congressman’s close ties with Trump’s administration.

The information has also derailed the House investigation into Russian interference in the United States election.

He was brought to the NSC by former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn who was sacked for failing to reveal his contacts with Russian officials. The talks are preliminary, and no official offers have been made.

“Whether the President was aware or not is one thing, the Trump administration certainly was, and it is very weird”, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi told NBC’s “Today” show.

Other Trump associates have volunteered to speak with investigators, but have not publicly raised the issue of immunity.

When a reporter asked Spicer if the White House was more concerned about potential government leaks or Russian meddling in the us election, the press secretary initially focused on the leaks.

Sean Spicer held the press briefing from the White House on Friday.

The GOP chairman visited White House grounds a day before he returned to brief President Trump, saying he learned the USA intelligence community incidentally collected information on members of Trump’s transition team.

If true, The Times report would prove that Nunes lied to the media about the source of the information that he discussed in a press conference last week, and that he may also have misled the public about the contents of the documents he claimed to have reviewed.

KEITH: As for getting this behind them, the White House has struggled, and big legislative achievements seem unlikely to provide relief any time soon. Remember, Obama aides-realizing the extent of Russian interference and likely fretting for our country’s future-urgently worked to spread the intelligence throughout that vast federal bureaucracy in advance of Trump’s takeover.

Officials have expressed an interest in having more raw intelligence sent to the president for his daily briefings instead of an analysis of information compiled by the agencies, according to current and former US officials.

Mr. Nunes’ impartiality has been under heightened scrutiny amid revelations he went behind the backs of House Intelligence Committee Democrats and Republicans to a still-mysterious secret meeting on the White House grounds earlier this month.

House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Adam Schiff, D-Calif., speaks with reporters about the committee’s investigation into Russia’s involvement in the recent USA presidential election, on Captiol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 7, 2017.

The White House says the real story is not about Russian Federation, but about how Obama administration officials allegedly leaked and mishandled classified material about Americans.

On Friday, Spicer continued scolding reporters for pursuing the story about Russian Federation working to elect Trump president instead of possible proof supporting Trump’s March 4 tweet, in which he accused then-President Barack Obama of “wire tapping” him at his Manhattan office tower.

As NPR’s Carrie Johnson has reported, Trump continues to violate lawyers’ first rule for clients: keep your mouth shut.

Meanwhile, the president’s top lawyer has invited Republican and Democratic lawmakers to view classified information at the White House. He was replaced by H.R. McMaster, an Army lieutenant general who was expected to exert more control over the NSC but has found himself struggling to overcome skepticism among Flynn holdovers who have the ear of Bannon. He was asked to go somewhere. And the White House claims this routine monitoring of communications revealed the identities of some of the Trump transition team.

“Yes, it’s appropriate for a member of Congress to contact someone who contacted him, according to some of these reports”, the press secretary said. He was sacked after news reports revealed that he’d misled the White House about conversations he’d had with the Russian ambassador.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi echoed Schiff’s sentiments, calling on House Speaker Paul Ryan to urge Nunes to step down from the investigation.

A spokesman for Ryan later said the speaker was not aware of Nunes’ source and continues to have “full confidence” in the congressman’s ability to run the Russian Federation investigation.