Two months into Donald Trump's presidency and the focus on his possible connection with Russian government officials continues to elude investigators. After a hearing by the House Intelligence Committee on March 20 where FBI director James Comey and the director of the National Security Agency Michael Rogers were questioned, a Republican member of the same committee is being called on by others to recuse himself from investigating the Trump administration over its possible relationship with the Russian government.
This is because Republican House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep.
Devin Nunes is under suspicion for “shady” activity which threw his commitment to investigate the president into question after he announced new intelligence information to the press on Wednesday. A Blasting News article describes the Intel Nunes said he received: "...Nunes is suggesting that some members of the Trump team, including possibly the then president-elect himself, were “unmasked” and wound up being prominently mentioned in intelligence reports for political and not legal reasons." To add, It's also been reported that he was unaccounted for on Tuesday night before he made his announcement on Wednesday morning on information that should have been turned over to the Congressional committee before he informed the White House.
The Disappearance of Devin Nunes
According to one report by CNN, Nunes said in a phone interview with Wolf Blitzer that he was on the grounds of the White House the night before his announcement, claiming that he needed a secure area where he could view the intel he had received. He also said that neither the President nor anyone in the West Wing knew that he was there.
Nunes also said that the documents he was viewing had to be considered securely because they had not been provided to Congress yet. California Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff -- who is also a member of the House Intelligence Committee -- demanded that Nunes recuse himself from the investigation, a request also made by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Monday.
On March 24, The Daily Beast reported that on Tuesday evening of that same week, Devin Nunes was reportedly in an Uber when he abruptly left the car and his staffer behind without telling him where he was going. Before that, Nunes reportedly received a message on his phone. According to his aides, they didn't see him again until his hastily made announcement before the White House Wednesday morning, where even his aides did not know what he was going to say next. The article says that even his senior staff were left out of the loop on the announcement, which the Daily Beast also said was highly unusual. The article goes on to say that the information was brought to him “by sources who thought that we should know it” and that the documents included “legally collected foreign intelligence under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)."
Informing the President
After the announcement to the press that Wednesday, Nunes turned and entered the White House to inform House Speaker Paul Ryan and would later that afternoon, provide it to Trump.
Questioned over his decision, he said he felt that he was obligated to do so since the press was criticizing the President. The Daily Beast quoted Nunes: “It's clear that I would be concerned if I was the president, and that's why I wanted him to know, and I felt like I had a duty and obligation to tell him because, as you know, he's taking a lot of heat in the news media." Devin Nunes was part of the Trump transition team which puts him in the same position as other Trump supporters such as the Department of Justice Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who recused himself from the investigation this year for being part of the Trump's campaign. Since Nunes' announcement, the pressure from Democrats appears to be building. But Paul Ryan has said that he has all confidence that Devin Nunes can continue to be House Intel chair.
