The ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday said the “beyond irregular” behavior of the committee’s Republican chairman has “underscored the imperative of an independent investigation” into Russian interference in last year’s election—comments that capped off a series of explosive Capitol Hill developments surrounding a controversy that refuses to die.
“The chairman needs to think about which role he wants to play here. Is he going to play a role as surrogate for the administration or is he going to play a role of leading an independent investigation? He can’t do both.”
Click Here: geelong cats guernsey 2019—Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.)Rep. Devin Nunes of California, the GOP chair of the House Select Committee on Intelligence, came under fire later by congressional colleagues after he went outside normal protocols by briefing President Donald Trump earlier in the day on classified materials that had yet to be vetted by his own committee.
As many noted, it is highly unusual for the chairman to take such actions or speak publicly on sensitive matters in the absence of the committee’s ranking member. The Intelligence Committee remains one of the few in congress where bipartisan decorum, at least in broad strokes, is both honored and expected.
In both a written statement and subsequent press conference, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the committee, called Nunes to account for briefing Trump and said he only learned of the new disclosures when the chairman held a live press conference outside the White House.
It was in those remarks to the press that Nunes revealed that the U.S. intelligence community may have incidentally collected information on members of Trump’s transition team, explaining that this information was contained in classified intelligence reports that were “widely disseminated” within the government. Watch:
“While there was not a physical wiretap of Trump Tower,” Nunes said, “I was concerned that other surveillance activities were used against President Trump and his associates.”
However, regardless of the content of the information, it was Nunes’ delivery of it without letting Schiff even know of its existence that set off alarms and generated the largest rebuke. Within an hour of Nunes’ remarks, Schiff released the following statement:
Schiff wasn’t alone in his concern, with CNN reporting Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, as saying Nunes’ statements “would appear to reveal classified information, which is a serious concern.”
Whereas Trump subsequently told reporters he felt “somewhat” vindicated by the information provided to him by Nunes, Schiff held an emergency press conference where he characterized the situation as deeply troubling. Watch:
SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT