Senior FBI and national intelligence officials warned the White House last week that the documents House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) has requested could endanger a U.S. citizen who shared intelligence with the FBI and the CIA, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.
According to multiple people familiar with the discussions who spoke with the Post, White House officials, as well as President Donald Trump, agreed to side with the Justice Department in its decision to not release some of the information sought by Nunes. It was not clear whether Trump was made aware that some of the information developed by that intelligence source was shared with special counsel Robert Mueller, according to the Post.
Nunes, in turn, has become increasingly agitated, publicly claiming that the Justice Department is attempting to “evade congressional oversight while leaking information to The Washington Post ostensibly about classified meetings.”
According to the Post, intelligence officials are hesitant to share even a redacted version of the document for fear it could expose the source. Conservative Republicans have seized on the document refusal to shed light on their claims of bias, overreach and misuse of surveillance powers within the Justice Department.
Nunes and his committee have requested several documents related to the Russia probe and other federal investigations, like the probe into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. Last month, the House Freedom Caucus drafted articles of impeachment against Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to use as a last-ditch attempt to obtain the records. Over the weekend, Nunes suggested he may try to hold Attorney General Jeff Sessions in contempt for refusing to comply with the request.
Read the Post’s full story here.