House Intel Chair Has ‘Not Seen Evidence’ Of Trump Wiretap Claim

Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., questions ousted IRS Chief Steve Miller and J. Russell George, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, as they testify during a hearing at the House Ways and Means Committee on ... Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., questions ousted IRS Chief Steve Miller and J. Russell George, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, as they testify during a hearing at the House Ways and Means Committee on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) practice of targeting applicants for tax-exempt status based on political leanings on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Friday, May 17, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes (R-CA) on Tuesday afternoon said that he has not seen any evidence to support President Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claim over the weekend that President Obama wiretapped Trump Tower.

“I have not seen that evidence,” Nunes told reporters, according to Reuters. “I think the bigger question that needs to be answered is whether or not Mr. Trump or any of his associates were in fact targeted by any of the intelligence agencies or law enforcement authorities.”

He previously said that his committee would look into Trump’s claims after the President called on Congress to do so.

The congressman said that the committee should have been briefed on any such activity.

“We are supposed to be kept up to speed on any pertinent counterintelligence investigation,” Nunes said, per Reuters. “If Trump or any other political campaign, or anybody associated with Trump, was under some type of investigation, that clearly should have risen to the Gang of Eight level.”

Asked if he believes Trump’s claim, Nunes suggested that reporters not take Trump’s comments literally.

“A lot of the things he says, you guys take literally,” he said, according to CNN.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Richard Burr (R-NC) also said that he had not seen evidence and suggested that his committee may hold off on probing the matter until evidence presents itself.

“We’re going to go anywhere there is intelligence or facts that send us,” he told CNN. “So I’m not going to limit it one way or the other. But we don’t have anything today that would send us in that direction, but that’s not to say that we might not find something.”

Latest Livewire

Notable Replies

  1. Jiminy crickets, this is SUCH a surprise!!

    And what’s this crap about “reporters [should] not take Trump’s comments literally”??? Do we need to have an interpreter now? Can’t Drumpfie speak normal English?? Does he speak in parables??

    OR: Is this just another way of saying he’s lying?? And you know it full well??

  2. No definitive evidence exists confirming Bigfoot is a real animal, alive and roaming the Pacific Northwest. Yet dozens of publications and television newscasts have covered Bigfoot. So, you know, Bigfoot potentially lives.

  3. Avatar for bobef bobef says:

    Nunes’s guiding principles as intel committee chair are based on two of the three monkeys; see no evil (check), hear no evil (check), speak no evil (not so much)

  4. “A lot of the things he says, you guys take literally,”

    I see. So when he says that he didn’t commit treason by colluding with the Russian government, we should understand that this is just a metaphor.

  5. Asked if he believes Trump’s claim, Nunes suggested that reporters not take Trump’s comments literally.

    “A lot of the things he says, you guys take literally,” he said, according to CNN. (CA Rep. Devin Nunes)

    Yeah, we’re kinda … well … normal human in that way – when someone says something, we try to be objective and believe that they at least believe what they’re saying and ask them for evidence. Of course, when you’re dealing with a mentally-ill person (be it schizophrenia, bi-polar, dementia, etc.), it then behooves us to ask if that person should be in treatment, medicated, etc., and perhaps not in a position where they can harm themselves and others due to that illness.

    So, Mr. Nunes, are you saying Mr. Trump is not to be believed … ever? Is he mentally ill? Is he a pathological liar? What? Sir, I don’t want a President that constantly lies to us. Please work to remove Mr. Trump from office, it is your constitutional duty.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

54 more replies

Participants

Avatar for pluckyinky Avatar for ajaykalra Avatar for old_curmudgeon Avatar for matthew1961 Avatar for artemisia Avatar for steviedee111 Avatar for becca656 Avatar for yskov Avatar for tacoma Avatar for daveyjones64 Avatar for danny Avatar for cd Avatar for tao Avatar for topchap Avatar for ronbyers Avatar for beattycat Avatar for dommyluc Avatar for antisachetdethe Avatar for sailor1939 Avatar for jacksonhts Avatar for tiowally Avatar for corncaucus2008 Avatar for bobef Avatar for justruss

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: