White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer on Friday afternoon fiercely defended House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes’ (R-CA) visit to the White House complex last week to view intelligence reports purportedly showing President Donald Trump and his transition team were swept up in surveillance of foreign nationals.
“What occurred between Chairman Nunes and coming here was both routine and proper,” Spicer said at the daily press briefing, adding that Nunes had the “appropriate credentials and clearances.”
When asked again later in the briefing about the specifics of Nunes’ secret meeting with a secret source on the White House grounds, Spicer let loose a long-winded defense of the House Intelligence chair.
“It’s appropriate for a member of Congress to contact someone who has contacted him, according to some of these reports,” Spicer said.
“If you’re asking me, is it appropriate for a member of Congress to come over here, as Chairman Nunes has said himself, he wasn’t hiding or roaming,” he continued. “He was asked to come over here by an individual. He came over, which happens daily. He was asked to go somewhere. He went there. He is cleared. What he did and what he saw and who he went with is 100 percent proper.”
Spicer’s defense of Nunes comes after the New York Times and the Washington Post reported that three White House staffers helped provide the House Intelligence chairman with reports that allegedly show incidental collection of information on Trump and his transition staffers.