Paul Ryan says Devin Nunes shouldn’t recuse himself from Russian Federation investigation

House Speaker Paul Ryan is maintaining support for embattled House intelligence committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes (NOO’-nehs).

“You see the unraveling of this committee happening overnight for no good reason, ” said Representative Jackie Speier, a California Democrat who is a committee member.

The calls follow revelations of a mysterious, late-night adventure, in which Nunes abandoned his staff in downtown Washington, jumping from one auto to another, to attend a meeting in the White House complex, with a source who shared secret intelligence reports which, Nunes claimed later, showed that USA surveillance of foreigners might have “incidentally” eavesdropped on Trump or his some in his inner circle – an assertion Trump then claimed “somewhat vindicated” his stunning March 4 tweet that Obama had ordered wiretaps on Trump Tower.

Democratic members of Nunes’ House committee said his ability to lead a bipartisan probe is compromised.

“Why would I do that?” But recent revelations might mean it is impossible for the committee to carry out a credible investigation, at least if Nunes remains as chairman.

In opening remarks at a congressional hearing on Thursday, Sen. Adam Schiff, the HIC’s ranking Democrat, said in a statement.

The White House confirmed that Kushner, a senior Trump adviser, had volunteered to be interviewed about arranging meetings with the Russian ambassador and other officials. “We could have done both”. “As you know, this Russian Federation issue, we have been on it for many, many years, and so we’ll continue to be on the issue”. “I think that would take a lot of tension out of this process”, he said.

The same day she received the letter, the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Congressman Devin Nunes canceled Yates’ scheduled testimony. Nunes later apologized to the committee.

Nunes started out as an open and available presence in the investigation – readily taking questions from reporters for more than 30 minutes at a time, always stopping to answer questions. He maintained that his relationship with other members is “good” and that its Russian Federation probe is moving forward.

Further demonstrating the irreparable breakdown of the HPSCI’s ability to conduct a nonpartisan investigation, Rep. Adam Schiff, the panel’s top Democrat, issued a stunning statement on Monday in which he called for Nunes to recuse himself-both from the investigation into Russian Federation and any “oversight of matters pertaining to any incidental collection of the Trump transition”, of which Nunes served as an executive committee member.

He later admitted he was handed the documents at a mystery meeting in the White House grounds with an unnamed source. They never responded, and the same day – Nunes canceled the hearing. We do not know. On Friday, Yates’ lawyer sent a letter to the White House saying that she still wanted to go through with testifying, and that she would not disclose classified information, but that if the White House wished to exert executive privilege over her testimony, it should make that intent clear by Monday morning.

Republicans on the committee publicly continued to back him. Let neither party, Republican or Democrat, sidetrack American justice if truth exists to either charge.

On Monday night, Nunes told Fox News’ “The O’Reilly Factor” that “there was no sneaking around” when he met with the secret source behind his claim that Trump’s associates were caught up in “incidental” surveillance. “He’s really on to something, that’s why”. “It’s an inherent contradiction”, Schumer said, according to The Hill.

He said that “as with any counterintelligence investigation, this will also include an assessment of whether any crimes were committed”.

“Obviously, the president had nothing to do with it, the information is totally controlled, and it did not leak out at all”, King said. “No and no”, Ryan said simply when asked Tuesday whether Nunes should recuse himself from the investigation and whether he knew the source of Nunes’s information.

A White House spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, confirmed those meetings, saying in an interview that nothing of effect occurred and portraying them as routine diplomatic encounters that went nowhere.

National security experts and White House reporters have argued that it is highly unlikely Nunes could have obtained access to the White House grounds unnoticed, while members of Congress are wondering why Nunes would go around his committee to brief Trump on the documents directly.