On Thursday, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes ate humble pie and apologized to his fellow committee members for sharing information with Donald Trump concerning the intelligence community’s collection of surveillance on him. Committee member Rep. Jackie Speier informed CNN of the apology, but Democrat committee members are frustrated that he didn’t inform them and are now worried Nunes’ actions have cast a cloud on their Trump-Russia investigation.
Nunes may have jumped the gun when he informed Trump of the information on Wednesday, and his bizarre press conference later in the day only muddled matters further. How he went about it has some members steamed, since he kept the press, Paul Ryan, and Donald Trump up to speed while leaving Democrats in the lurch. Nunes was reportedly advised against going to Trump, and Democrat Rep. Elijah Cummings told CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Thursday that Nunes may have effectively told Trump some of what the committee is investigating.
However, Nunes apologized for his actions and stated he had shared the information with the committee. But some think the damage is done, as Nunes’ Democratic counterpart, Rep. Adam Schiff, told reporters on Wednesday this is a huge matter and the investigation is possibly compromised:
“If accurate, this information should have been shared with members of the committee, but it has not been. The chairman also shared this information with the White House before providing it to the committee, another profound irregularity, given that the matter is currently under investigation. I have expressed my grave concerns with the chairman that a credible investigation cannot be conducted this way.”
CNN reports that some Congresspeople, including Cummings, believe Nunes should be the subject of a new investigation. Wow.