House Intelligence Chair Bows To Trump, Agrees To Investigate Baseless Wiretapping Claim

Rep. Devin Nunes Served On President’s Transition Team

The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said Sunday that the panel will investigate President Donald Trump’s baseless claim that the Obama administration wiretapped him during last year’s campaign. 

Rep. Devin Nunes, R-California, who served on the Executive Committee of Trump’s transition team, issued a statement Sunday in response to the White House’s call for a congressional investigation into the president’s allegations. 

“One of the focus points of the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation is the U.S. government’s response to actions taken by Russian intelligence agents during the presidential campaign,” Nunes said. “As such, the Committee will make inquiries into whether the government was conducting surveillance activities on any political party’s campaign or surrogates, and we will continue to investigate this issue if the evidence warrants it.” 

Nunes has repeatedly denied that there is any evidence of improper contact between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.

“This is almost like McCarthyism revisited,” he said recently, according to POLITICO. “At this point, there’s nothing there. Once we begin to look at all the evidence, and if we find any American that had any contact with Russian agents or anybody affiliated with the Russian government, then we’ll be glad to, at that point, you know, subpoena those people before the House and let the legislative branch do its oversight and then we would recommend it over to, you know, the appropriate people.”

Last month, The Washington Post reported that Nunes was among the members of the Congress whom Trump had enlisted to counter stories about his campaign’s ties to Russia.