White House open to probers
Will let lawmakers view classified info
WASHINGTON — The White House refused Thursday to say whether it secretly fed intelligence reports to a top Republican lawmaker, fueling concerns about political interference in the investigation of possible coordination between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign.
Fending off the growing criticism, the administration invited lawmakers from both parties to view classified material it said relates to surveillance of the president’s associates. The invitation came as The New York Times reported that two White House officials — including an aide whose job was recently saved by President Donald Trump — secretly helped House intelligence committee chairman Devin Nunes examine intelligence information last week.
Mr. Nunes is leading one of three investigations into Russia’s attempt to influence the campaign and Trump associates’ possible involvement.
Late Thursday, an attorney for Michael Flynn, Mr. Trump’s ex-national security adviser, said Mr. Flynn is in discussions with the House and Senate intelligence committees about speaking to them in exchange for immunity. No official offers have been made. Other Trump associates have volunteered to speak with investigators, but have not publicly raised the issue of immunity.
Mr. Flynn, a member of the Trump campaign and transition, was fired as national security adviser after it was publicly disclosed that he misled the vice president about a conversation he had with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. Mr. Flynn’s ties to Russia have been scrutinized by the FBI and are under investigation by the House and Senate intelligence committees.
The House panel’s work has been deeply, and perhaps irreparably, undermined by Mr. Nunes’ apparent coordination with the White House. He told reporters last week that he had seen troubling information about the improper distribution of Trump associates’ intercepted communications, and he briefed the president on the material, all before informing Rep. Adam Schiff, the committee’s top Democrat.
Speaking Thursday, Mr. Schiff said he was “more than willing” to accept the White House offer to view new information. But he raised concerns that Trump officials may have used Mr. Nunes to “launder information to our committee to avoid the true source.”
Instead, the White House continued to sidestep queries about its role in showing Mr. Nunes classified information that appears to have included transcripts of foreign officials discussing Mr. Trump’s transition to the presidency, according to current and former U.S. officials. Intelligence agencies routinely monitor the communications of foreign officials living in the U.S.
The Senate intelligence committee, which has thus far taken a more measured and bipartisan approach to its own Russia investigation, responded to the White House’s invitation by asking for the intelligence agencies “that own the intelligence documents in question to immediately provide them directly to the Committee.”
It also heard testimony from Russian experts who painted a sinister picture of Russian meddling in the 2016 election Thursday, telling the committee about fake news, cyber trolls, smear campaigns and even slayings they say could have ties to the Kremlin.
Sen. Marco Rubio, RFla., told his colleagues on the committee that during the previous 24 hours, his former presidential campaign team was unsuccessfully targeted — for the second time — by hackers at an unknown internet address in Russia. House Speaker Paul Ryan also was targeted by internet hackers recently, said Clint Watts of the Foreign Policy Research Institute.
In Russia, President Vladimir Putin said there was nothing to the allegations of election meddling: “Read my lips: No.”
Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said Thursday the material the White House wants the House and Senate intelligence leaders to view was discovered by the National Security Council through the course of regular business. He would not say whether it was the same material Mr. Nunes had already seen.
Mr. Spicer had previously dismissed the notion that the White House had funneled information to Mr. Nunes.
The White House quickly embraced Mr. Nunes’ revelations, saying they vindicated Mr. Trump’s unverified claim that then-President Barack Obama wiretapped his New York skyscraper.