A third White House official, John Eisenberg, handled the reports that House Intelligence Chair Devin Nunes (R-CA) cited in claiming that the U.S. intelligence community had incidentally collected information on President Donald Trump’s transition team, the Washington Post reported late Thursday.
The New York Times reported earlier on Thursday that two officials at the White House, Ezra Cohen-Watnick, the senior director for intelligence at the National Security Council, and Michael Ellis, a lawyer in the White House Counsel’s office, helped provide Nunes with the intelligence.
The Washington Post confirmed that Cohen-Watnick and Ellis were involved, and reported that Cohen was the one who gathered the material and then brought it to Eisenberg, a top lawyer at the National Security Council.
NBC News approached both Ellis and Eisenberg on Thursday evening about allegations that they helped provide Nunes with the classified reports.
When asked if he helped give Nunes intelligence, Ellis told NBC, “I’m not talking about anything.”
Eisenberg told NBC News, “I have nothing to say.”