Top Intel Committee Democrat Has ‘Grave Concerns’ About Nunes Disclosing ‘Lawfully Gathered Intelligence’
‘There Is Still No Evidence That the President Was Wiretapped by His Predecessor’
The Ranking Member on the House Intelligence Committee Wednesday chastised Chairman Devin Nunes after the California Republican held not one but two press conferences which bookended an unprecedented meeting delivering likely classified information to President Donald Trump.
“I have expressed my grave concerns with the Chairman that a credible investigation cannot be conducted this way,†Rep. Adam Schiff, Democrat of California, said in a statement. He also noted that Nunes should have contacted the Intelligence Committee members first, and made clear that Rep. Niunes’ comment “certainly does not suggest — in any way — that the President was wiretapped by his predecessor.”
Schiff: “There is still no evidence that the president was wiretapped by his predecessor” https://t.co/LM8MyiczEU
— NBC News (@NBCNews) March 22, 2017
Under the guise of claiming he was disturbed that intelligence agencies had “unmasked” American citizens who were “incidentally” caught up in surveillance of foreign individuals, Chairman Nunes today appeared to take unprecedented action to protect not the American people but the President of the United States.
Schiff: Nunes must decide if he is “chairman of an independent investigation…or a surrogate of the White House” https://t.co/qsHNl5tBWy
— NBC News (@NBCNews) March 22, 2017
Nunes, in other words, claimed he was disturbed that an agency, possibly the CIA, in classified transcripts of communications, named individuals, rather than identifying them as “PERSON 1,” for example. These transcripts are not documents ordinarily ever seen by ordinary citizens or even most lawmakers.
Here is Schiff’s full statement:
Today, Chairman Nunes shared information with WH still withheld from our committee. He cannot conduct a credible investigation this way. pic.twitter.com/wwrp7H7JWC
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) March 22, 2017
UPDATE:
Schiff: “I have to hope that this is not part of a broader campaign by the W.H. aimed to deflect from the Director’s testimony.” —via @MSNBC pic.twitter.com/TseneLs4Il
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) March 22, 2017
UPDATE II:
NUNES tells me he can’t show Dem ranking member Schiff any of the reports because Nunes/the committee doesn’t have them in their possession
— Kasie Hunt (@kasie) March 22, 2017
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EARLIER:
GOP Intel Chair Under Fire for Announcing Intelligence Community Captured Trump Team Communications
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