Nunes “pledged to work with [Democrats] on this issue”, an aide said of the apology, according to Politico.
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Democrats have raised suspicions that Nunes’s information came from the White House, a claim press secretary Sean Spicer said doesn’t pass the “smell test”.
California Republican Nunes – who was himself part of the Trump transition team – said Trump and his team’s information may have been gathered inadvertently by United States spy agencies and erroneously shared in intelligence briefings.
Nunes however said there was no evidence that then-president Barack Obama ordered the surveillance – as Trump has claimed – or that the president was the target.
After hearing such reports, Trump said that he “somewhat” felt vindicated on his claims that he was being wiretapped by his predecessor.
“I’m always very reluctant about special prosecutors”, said Christie, a former USA attorney himself.
But incidental collection isn’t uncommon when American citizens are in touch with foreign agents. They were intentional, part of an entirely appropriate and authorized intelligence-gathering operation. “If they were, I’m sure you’ll hear about it”.
“Sometimes you make the right decision, sometimes you make the wrong decision, ” he said.
Other outlets reported Thursday that the California Republican had apologized to members of the committee for not briefing them first before going public but his spokesman would not comment.
Schiff called for an independent commission to investigate the alleged ties following Nunes decision to brief the president on what the committee knows. Sen.
“There was a lot of communicating in the May to mid-November period in my role as chairman of the transition”, said the governor on Thursday.
Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., told reporters he has seen intelligence reports acknowledging surveillance of Trump’s transition team was done “incidentally” – and “legally” – in the months after his election. “Chairman Nunes is deeply compromised and he can not possibly lead an honest investigation”, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said during her weekly press conference.
Bradley Moss, a leading national security lawyer, told AFP that Nunes could be in trouble because he “released what appears to be classified information”.
We have repeatedly encouraged the Senate and House intelligence committees to conduct a thorough and, to the extent possible, transparent investigation of the various allegations tying the Trump campaign to Russian Federation, and into the leaks that have fueled those allegations.
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Mr Schiff on Wednesday told MSNBC he believed there was evidence “that is not circumstantial and is very much worthy of an investigation” about the links.
