Spying claim by Intel chair renews fight over Russia probe
WASHINGTON — The chairman of the House intelligence committee defended his decision to both publicly discuss and brief President Donald Trump on typically secret intelligence about surveillance of members of the Trump transition team’s communications.
“It was a judgment call on my part,” Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., told reporters Thursday morning. “Sometimes you make the right decision, sometimes you make wrong decision.”
Nunes’ actions brought swift protests from Democrats and raised questions about the independence of the House committee’s probe of Russian interference into the 2016 election and possible contacts between Trump associates and Russia.
“A credible investigation cannot be conducted this way,” said Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House panel.
Nunes’ critics also questioned whether the California congressman was co-ordinating with the White House in order to give the president cover for his explosive claims that Barack Obama wiretapped Trump’s New York skyscraper. The White House quickly embraced Nunes’ revelations and the president said they “somewhat” validated his wiretapping allegations.
Nunes, who served on Trump’s transition team, ducked questions about whether he was parroting information given to him by the White House, saying only that he was “not going to ever reveal sources.” He maintained that Trump’s explosive wiretapping allegations against Obama were false.
The disclosure came two days after FBI Director James Comey publicly confirmed the bureau’s own investigation into the Trump campaign’s connections with Russia. Comey’s comments came during the intelligence committee’s first public hearing on Russia’s election interference, an investigation being overseen by Nunes.
Nunes said he received the new intelligence information after that hearing. He said it revealed that Trump’s transition associates — and perhaps Trump himself — had their communications picked up through legal surveillance.
The surveillance was conducted legally, Nunes said, and did not appear to be related to the FBI’s Russia investigation. He said his concern was that the identities of the Trump officials were improperly revealed and the contents of their communications were “widely disseminated” in intelligence reports.
Speaking to reporters outside the White House, Nunes said, “What I’ve read bothers me, and I think it should bother the president himself and his team.”
Nunes briefed reporters on the new information without consulting with Schiff or other Democrats on the committee.
Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., said Nunes’ disclosure could be a “weapon of mass distraction” in light of allegations of co-ordination between Russians and the Trump campaign during the 2016 campaign against Democrat Hillary Clinton.
“This could be a lot of theatrics,” said Speier, also a member of the House intelligence committee.
“This is a bizarre situation,” Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said in an interview on MSNBC. “I’m calling for a select committee because I think this back-and-forth shows that Congress no longer has the credibility to handle this alone.”
Later, in an interview with MSNBC, Schiff said evidence “that is not circumstantial and is very much worthy of an investigation” exists of Trump associates colluding with Russia as it interfered in last year’s election. He did not outline that evidence.
It’s common for Americans to get caught up in U.S. surveillance of foreigners, such as foreign diplomats in the U.S. talking to an American. Typically, the American’s name would not be revealed in a report about the intercepted communications. However, if there is a foreign intelligence value to revealing the American’s name, it is “unmasked” and shared with other intelligence analysts who are working on related foreign intelligence surveillance.
Schiff disputed Nunes’ suggestions that there was improper “unmasking.” He said that after speaking with Nunes, it appeared that the names of Americans were still guarded in the intercepts though their identities could be gleaned from the materials.