An extraordinary public airing of the usually hidden, inner-workings of the U.S. intelligence community is rapidly casting doubt on the ability of lawmakers to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
“What I’ve read bothers me and I think it should bother the president himself and his team,” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes told reporters after taking the unusual step of briefing the president personally.
“The president himself and others in the Trump transition team were clearly put into intelligence reports,” Nunes said outside the White House. “Some of it seems to be inappropriate.”
The revelations by Nunes come just two days after FBI Director James Comey confirmed officials are investigating the Trump campaign’s possible connections with Russia. But Comey rejected Trump’s Twitter claims of wiretapping.
Asked about Nunes’ comments, Trump said Wednesday he felt vindicated.
"I must tell you that I somewhat do,” the president said. “I very much appreciated the fact that they found what they found."
Nunes said he had only seen some of the dozens of intelligence reports that allegedly named the president and members of his team. But he emphasized the reports had “nothing to do with Russia and nothing to do with the Russia investigation.”
Nunes’ revelations may also lend more credence to claims by Trump supporters about a so-called “Deep State,” with officials loyal to former President Barack Obama actively trying to undermine the Trump White House.