Ever since House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes gave his bonkers press conference regarding Donald Trump’s wiretapping claims, the Republican congressman’s public life has taken a very weird turn. He apologized to his Democratic colleagues in the hopes of assuaging their anger, but Monday’s report that Nunes secretly visited the White House before his press conference inspired plenty of pitchforks in the press. Some, like Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-New York), have called for Nunes to be removed from the House Intelligence Committee.
And then there’s Tuesday’s report, per NBC News, that Nunes suddenly decided to scrap all House Intelligence Committee meetings for the rest of the week.
BREAKING: Chairman Nunes has scrapped all House Intelligence Cmte meetings this week, per source close to cmte member.
— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) March 28, 2017
CNN followed up with its own sources on the committee, who corroborated NBC News’ story that Nunes had indeed cancelled all of the committee’s planned meetings without warning:
The full committee meetings were canceled amid an increasingly tense back-and-forth that intensified over Chairman Devin Nunes’ decision to cancel a public hearing set for Tuesday, two sources on the committee told CNN.
The sudden cancellation news arrives in the midst of another public relations mishap on Nunes’ part — his decision to cancel a public hearing on Russia slated for Tuesday. Instead, the embattled House Intelligence chair decided to meet privately with FBI Director James Comey and National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers to discuss the matter. Democrats immediately complained, arguing any and all matters regarding Trump’s alleged Russian ties or Russia’s hacking of the election should remain in public view.
However, as CNN notes, Rogers and Comey opted out of the public hearing so as to avoid the growing political furor over Nunes’ previous missteps. As for the House Intelligence Committee’s weekly meetings, the group typically comes together at least two times a week. Whether or not the gatherings canned by Nunes will be rescheduled remains to be seen.