Trump aides leaked secret reports to chief of House probe panel on Russia

A PAIR of White House officials helped provide California Representative Devin Nunes, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, with the intelligence reports that showed that US President Donald Trump and his associates were incidentally swept up in foreign surveillance by American spy agencies.

The revelation on Thursday that White House officials disclosed the reports, which Nunes then discussed with Trump, is likely to fuel criticism that the intelligence chairman has been too eager to do the bidding of the Trump administration while his committee is supposed to be conducting an independent investigation of Russia’s meddling in the presidential election.

It is the latest twist of a bizarre Washington drama that began on March 21, when Nunes got a call from a person he has described only as a source. The next day, Nunes gave a news conference before going to brief Trump on what he had learned the night before from — as it turns out — White House officials. The chain of events — and who helped provide the intelligence to Nunes — was detailed to The New York Times by four US officials.

Since disclosing the existence of the reports, Nunes has refused to identify his sources, saying he needed to protect them. He described his sources as whistleblowers trying to expose wrongdoing at great risk to themselves.

Several US officials identified the White House officials as Ezra Cohen-watnick, the senior director for intelligence at the National Security Council, and Michael Ellis, a lawyer who works on national security issues at the White House Counsel’s Office. Though neither has been accused of breaking any laws, they do appear to have sought to use intelligence to advance the political goals of the Trump administration.

Sean Spicer, the White House spokesman, refused to confirm or deny that Ellis and Cohenwatnick were Nunes’ sources. The administration’s concern was the substance of the intelligence reports, not how they ended up in Nunes’ hands, Spicer said Friday. NYT

DEVIN NUNES