Visit to WH grounds by Intel chairman clouds investigation
WASHINGTON House intelligence chairman Devin Nunes went to the White House grounds to review intelligence reports and meet the secret source behind his claim that communications involving Trump associates were caught up in “incidental” surveillance in the waning days of the Obama administration.
The location of the meeting, confirmed Monday by Rep. Devin Nunes’ spokesman, revived questions about the independence of the committee’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and Trump associates’ ties with the Kremlin. Democrats have accused Nunes of co-ordinating with the White House, an allegation he has strongly denied.
After reviewing the information last week, Nunes called a news conference to announce that U.S. spy agencies may have inadvertently captured Trump and his associates in routine targeting of foreigners’ communications. Trump quickly seized on the statements as at least partial vindication for his assertion that President Barack Obama tapped his phones at Trump Tower — though Nunes and FBI Director James Comey as well as the committee’s top Democrat have said there is no such evidence.
The Senate intelligence committee is also conducting an investigation into Russia’s interference in the election and possible ties with the Trump campaign. And on Monday, it announced that Trump’s sonin-law, Jared Kushner has agreed to be interviewed. 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.
Kushner is the fourth Trump associate to offer to be interviewed by the congressional committees looking into the murky Russia ties. Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, Trump adviser Carter Page and Trump associate Roger Stone last week volunteered to speak as well.
“Mr. Kushner will certainly not be the last person the committee calls to give testimony, but we expect him to be able to provide answers to key questions that have arisen in our inquiry,” the chairman, Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, and the top Democrat, Mark Warner of Virginia said in a joint statement Monday in a sign of bipartisanship.
The House investigation, meanwhile, has been plagued with partisan divisions under Nunes’ leadership.
The chairman did not tell the top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Adam Schiff, about the meeting at the White House complex. It is highly unusual for a committee chairman and ranking member not to co-ordinate meetings related to an investigation.
“‘I think the chairman has to make a decision whether to act as a surrogate of the White House — as he did during the campaign and the transition — or to lead an independent and credible investigation,” Schiff said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Spokesman Jack Langer said Monday that circumstances required that Nunes go to a secure room at the White House complex to review classified “executive branch documents that have not been provided to Congress.”
In addition to the White House itself, the grounds include an adjacent building with offices for National Security Council and other executive branch employees.