Rep. Devin Nunes, Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee investigating connections between the Trump campaign and Russia, tipped off Trump about information he had obtained.
By Jeff Darcy, cleveland.com Follow on Twitter
on March 24, 2017 at 6:36 AM, updated March 24, 2017 at 7:23 AM
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The unsubstantiated, classified information Rep. Devin Nunes leaked this week does not vindicate President Donald Trump's twitter claims that Barack Obama had Trump Tower wiretapped while he was president. It does, however, show that Nunes is Trump's lap dog and should be removed as Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, which is investigating potential connections between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Nunes should be removed as chairman for tipping off Trump on the information he received; not sharing that information with the ranking committee member; leaking the classified information; damaging the committee's credibility and for having served as member of the Trump transition team. He can no longer be trusted to be impartial.
Wednesday, Nunes called a press conference to say he "recently confirmed that on numerous occasions the intelligence community incidentally collected information about US citizens involved in the Trump transition." He then went to the White House and briefed President Trump on the information.
Nunes said a source had given him documents detailing legal surveillance of targets of FISA warrants. The Trump associates were picked up in the surveillance incidentally. That happens when the target of the warrant is talking on the phone with the individual, or simply mentions the persons name when talking to someone else.
In his press conference, Nunes objected to the Trump associates names being improperly unmasked in the documents. But the House Intel committee's ranking member, Rep Adam Schiff, said Nunes had told him most of the names were in fact masked, and that Nunes said he was able to deduce who they were having served on the transition team.
Nunes complained about leaks, but then turned around and leaked classified information.
Nunes did not name his source or provide any proof of his claims. Before holding his press conference and briefing Trump, Nunes never shared the information with the ranking member of the committee, as he is required to do.
Schiff said Nunes "will need to decide whether he is the chairman of an independent investigation into conduct which includes allegations of potential coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russians, or he is going to act as a surrogate of the White House, because he cannot do both.
"It was my hope that our investigation could be conducted properly," Schiff added. "It's still my hope that this investigation should be conducted properly, but unfortunately the actions of the chair throw that very much in doubt.
Senator John McCain said Nunes' actions were "very disturbing" and that he had "not seen anything like it." "It's a bizarre situation. I think this back and forth and what the American people have found so far is that no longer does Congress have the credibility to handle this alone," said McCain while calling for an independent commission.
Former CIA chief of staff Jeremy Bash said "the job of the committee is to do oversight over the executive branch --not to bring them in to their investigation or tip them off to things they may have been looking at."
Rep. Nancy Pelosi charged that "by being a stooge of the president of the United States, (Nunes) has demonstrated very clearly that there is no way there can be an impartial investigation under his leadership on that committee."
Thursday, Nunes apologized to committee members, but he still did not provide them or the ranking member, Schiff, the information he provided Trump. Democrats on the committee have demanded to see it by today.
When asked if he felt vindicated by Nunes' revelations, Trump said, "I somewhat do. I must tell you I somewhat do. I very much appreciated the fact that they found what they found."
The White House, right-wing and Russian media, quickly promoted Nunes' comments as supporting Trump's claims that president Obama wiretapped Trump Tower, when in fact they don't.
Nunes failure to inform the committee and reaction from the White House just fed the suspicion that Nunes' actions were a planned stunt to give Trump cover on his wiretap claims, cloud the waters and distract from James Comey's testimony before the committee.
In addition to being a member of Trump's transition team, Nunes was approached by Reince Priebus last month and urged to "knock down" stories about the Trump campaign and Russia, and Nunes then proceeded to try and do so in press interviews.
The disturbing stories coming out about Paul Manafort's financial ties to Russia and Ukraine and Nunes' behavior, further demonstrate the urgent need for an independent commission to be appointed.
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