Calls to resign rejected
Questions about panel’s independence arise after chairman meets with secret source
WASHINGTON — House intelligence chairman Devin Nunes rebuffed calls to step aside from the Russia investigation Tuesday as demands grew for him to recuse himself as head of that probe.
“Why would I?” Nunes said. The calls for him to resign came after revelations about his meeting with a secret source on White House grounds raised questions about his and the panel’s independence.
Nunes said the pressure for him to resign was typical politics.
“It’s the same thing as always around this place — a lot of politics, people get heated, but I’m not going to involve myself with that,” he said.
House Speaker Paul Ryan continued to express confidence in Nunes Tuesday, saying there is no need for the chairman to resign.
Nunes acknowledged Monday that he reviewed intelligence reports at the White House complex and met a secret source behind his statement that communications involving associates of U.S. President Donald Trump were caught up in “incidental” surveillance.
The Republican congressman’s disclosure prompted the top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Adam Schiff, as well as the Democratic leaders in the House and Senate, to call on Nunes to recuse himself from the committee’s Russia probe. Schiff said Nunes’ connections to the White House have raised insurmountable public doubts about whether the committee can credibly investigate the president’s campaign associates.
“I believe the public cannot have the necessary confidence that matters involving the president’s campaign or transition team can be objectively investigated or overseen by the chairman,” Schiff said in a statement Monday.
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 the routine targeting of foreigners’ communications. Trump quickly seized on the statements as at least partial vindication for his assertion that former president Barack Obama tapped his phones at Trump Tower — though Nunes, Schiff and FBI Director James Comey have said there is no such evidence.
Nunes has denied co-ordinating with the president or his aides.
But Democratic Rep. Jackie Speier, a member of the committee, said Tuesday that Nunes should step down “in the interest of our integrity.” She said his actions raise questions about whether the panel’s investigation can be unbiased and independent.
“If you become a White House whisperer, you are not independent,” she said on CNN.
The Senate intelligence committee is conducting an investigation into Russia’s interference in the election and possible ties with the Trump campaign. On Monday, it announced that Trump’s son-inlaw, Jared Kushner, has agreed to be interviewed.
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, adviser Carter Page and associate Roger Stone last week volunteered to speak as well.
Meanwhile, Russian state bank Vnesheconombank says it met with Kushner as part of a series of meetings on future business strategies last year, as part of discussions with representatives of leading financial institutions in Europe, Asia and the U.S.
Besides the two congressional committees, the FBI is also investigating connections between the Trump campaign and Russia.