Last week, Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Devin Nunes sparked confusion by telling the nation that he had obtained information proving that Trump’s transition team was (legally) surveilled, yet he refuses to name his source. Yet it turns out that President Trump might not be thrilled because it seems that — according to House Speaker Paul Ryan — the information came from a whistleblower, the same type of people that Trump has recently said should be punished for spreading government information.
During an interview with Norah O’Donnell of CBS This Morning, Ryan admitted to not knowing who the source behind Nunes’ information is, despite Ryan being a member of the Gang of Eight that has access to classified information.
“He had told me that like a whistle blower-type person had given him some information that was new that spoke to the last administration and part of this investigation,” Ryan told O’Donnell. “He briefed me about it. Didn’t know the content of it. Only knew the nature of it and that he was going to brief others.”
Ryan also admits to not knowing if Nunes even has the papers in his position and reassured O’Donnell that Nunes briefed the president because he planned to brief everyone, including his democratic colleagues in House Intelligence Committee. Yet, Ryan couldn’t explain why, a week later, Nunes’ Democratic colleagues still may not have been briefed.
Democrats are calling for Nunes to rescue himself from the investigation and are accusing him of possibly working with the White House.