President Donald Trump on Monday praised House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes (R-CA) as a potential “Great American Hero” for “what he has exposed and what he has had to endure” following the Friday release of Nunes’ widely criticized memo alleging an anti-Trump bias within the FBI.
Representative Devin Nunes, a man of tremendous courage and grit, may someday be recognized as a Great American Hero for what he has exposed and what he has had to endure!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 5, 2018
Trump on Friday declassified a memo authored by Nunes’ staff alleging that FBI officials misled the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) to surveil Trump’s former campaign aide Carter Page, but the document ultimately revealed little and omitted key background information.
Though the much-anticipated memo landed with a thud, Axios on Sunday reported that Nunes has several more memos alleging “wrongdoing” by federal agencies.
Nunes on Monday said during an interview with “Fox and Friends” that his investigation is now examining “irregularities” at the State Department.
“We have several other areas that we’re looking at, but I don’t want the American people to think we will have a memo that will go through this process,” he said. “What we’ll do in— follow in phase two, we’ll follow the facts where they lead. When we get enough facts, we’ll figure out a way to let the American people know.”
House Intelligence Committee Democrats have pushed back on Nunes’ document, and have reportedly asked for a vote to release their own rebuttal memo to take place on Monday, despite Trump’s praise for the Republican document and his early morning attack on Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the top Democrat on the panel and the leader of the rebuttal efforts.
Read the latest editor’s backgrounder (Prime access) on this story »
