NUNES SPILLS BEANS ON TRUMP TEAM TAP
GOP feels vindictation, says prez ‘was right’
President Trump’s transition team may have had its communications picked up and distributed throughout the intelligence community, according to a leading Republican on the House Intelligence Committee — news that had conservatives claiming vindication as shock waves spread across Washington. “What I’ve read bothers me, and I think it should bother the president himself and his team,” U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes told reporters after briefing the president privately at the White House. Nunes added the identities of Trump officials and what they said may have been inappropriately dispersed in intelligence reports. “TRUMP WAS RIGHT!” exulted Christina Laila at the conservative Gateway Pundit blog. Breitbart News editor Joel B. Pollak called it “a vindication of Trump’s controversial claims,” though he added, “Questions remain about whether President Obama himself knew of the surveillance, which other Obama administration officials were involved, and whether Trump was monitored directly.”
But U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, slammed Nunes: “The chairman will need to decide whether he is the chairman of an independent investigation into conduct which includes allegations of potential coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russians, or if he is going to act as a surrogate of the White House, because he cannot do both.”
Nunes, who served on the transition team, said it was “possible” Trump’s communications were picked up.
The disclosures came two days after FBI Director James B. Comey publicly confirmed an investigation into possible Trump campaign links with Russia and rejected Trump’s claim that former President Barack Obama wiretapped his New York skyscraper.
Trump said of Nunes’ remarks he “very much appreciated the fact that they found what they found.” White House press secretary Sean Spicer said, “There’s a lot of questions that I think his statement raises, and that I hope we can get to the bottom of.”
Nunes said the names of Trump associates were “unmasked” after the incidental collection, though he did not identify those names.
Nunes said the information was collected after the election when Trump was holding calls with foreign leaders. When asked whether the transition team was spied on, he said: “It all depends on one’s definition of spying.”
U.S. intelligence agencies routinely monitor foreign officials’ communications. That sometimes includes Americans that foreigners are speaking to or about. Intelligence analysts are obliged to “minimize” Americans’ names when possible.