Page 4 - ARUBA TODAY

A4 U.S. NEWS
Thursday 23 March 2017
Spying claim by Intel chair renews fight over Russia probe

GOP-led panel’s investiga- the White House briefing
tion. Schiff also said he had room podium. The Califor-
seen “more than circum- nia congressman quickly
stantial evidence” that headed up Pennsylvania
Trump associates colluded Avenue to personally brief
with Russia. the president and to ad-
In back-to-back news con- dress reporters outside the
ferences at the Capitol West Wing. Nunes’ decision
and then the White House to brief the president was
— where he had privately particularly unusual, given
briefed the president — Trump almost certainly has
Nunes said he was con- access to the information
cerned by officials’ han- from his intelligence agen-
dling of the communica- cies. Rep. Jackie Speier,
tions in the waning days of D-Calif., said Nunes’ disclo-
the Obama administration. sure could be a “weapon
He said the surveillance of mass distraction” in light
was conducted legally of allegations of coordina-
and did not appear to be tion between Russians and
related to the current FBI the Trump campaign dur-
investigation into Trump ing the 2016 campaign
associates’ contacts with against Democrat Hillary
Russia or with any criminal Clinton.
warrants. And the revela- “This could be a lot of the-
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif, speaks with reporters outside tions, he said, did nothing atrics,” said Speier, also a
the White House in Washington, Wednesday, March 22, 2017, following a meeting with President to change his assessment member of the House intel-
Donald Trump. that Trump’s explosive al- ligence committee.
(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) legations about wiretaps “This is a bizarre situation,”
at Trump Tower were false. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.,
JULIE PACE ficials monitoring other tar- from Democrats. Still, the White House imme- said in an interview on MS-
DEB RIECHMANN gets and improperly distrib- Republican Rep. Devin diately seized on his state- NBC. “I’m calling for a se-
Associated Press uted throughout spy agen- Nunes’ comments led ments in what appeared lect committee because
WASHINGTON (AP) — Pri- cies, the chairman of the the committee’s ranking to be a coordinated public I think this back-and-forth
vate communications of House intelligence commit- Democrat, Adam Schiff, display. shows that Congress no
Donald Trump and his presi- tee said Wednesday — an to renew his party’s calls Moments after Nunes longer has the credibility
dential transition team may extraordinary public airing for an independent probe spoke on Capitol Hill, Trump handle this alone.”
have been scooped up by of often-secret information of Trump campaign links spokesman Sean Spicer Outside the White House,
American intelligence of- that brought swift protests to Russia in addition to the read his statements from Nunes said, “What I’ve
read bothers me, and I
think it should bother the
president himself and his
team.”
Trump said he felt “some-
what” vindicated by the
Republican’s revelations.
“I very much appreciated
the fact that they found
what they found,” he said.
The disclosure came two
days after FBI Director
James Comey publicly
confirmed the bureau’s
own investigation into the
Trump campaign’s con-
nections with Russia and
rejected Trump’s explo-
sive claims that President
Barack Obama wire-
tapped his New York sky-
scraper during the elec-
tion. Comey’s comments
came during the intel-
ligence committee’s first
public hearing on Russia’s
election interference, an
investigation being over-
seen by Nunes.
Nunes briefed reporters on
the new information with-
out consulting with Schiff,
and that did not sit well
with the top Democrat on
the committee.q