The U.S. Intelligence Community collected 'incidental' information about President Donald Trump' and his transition team during the three months following the 2016 election, House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes today revealed.

Nunes told reporters on Capitol Hill that the information collected was 'legally collected' pursuant to a warrant issued by a FISA judge in a federal court, and concerned 'foreign' surveillance - before he went to the White House to tell the president.

He said 'it's possible' that the now-president's personal communications were among those which were part of the 'incidental' collection - but did not say definitively if that was the case.

But that 'did not involve Russia or any discussions with Russians,' Nunes said, adding that he was 'alarmed' to learn what he did.

Trump has insisted in recent weeks that his predecessor, Barack Obama, 'wire tapped' him inside Trump Tower last year, promising that new information would be forthcoming.

Nunes said Wednesday that he still had not seen any evidence to support Trump's claim.

Nevertheless, the president told White House reporters that he feels 'somewhat' vindicated after hearing what Nunes had to say this afternoon.

'I very much appreciated the fact that they found what they found. I somewhat do,' he said shortly after a meeting with the California congressman.

House Intelligence Committee chair Devin Nunes (pictured) said Wednesday that the U.S. government conducted surveillance that produced 'incidental' intelligence on the transition team of President Donald Trump and maybe Trump himself

The president told White House reporters that he feels 'somewhat' vindicated after hearing what Nunes had to say this afternoon. The congressman came to the White House this afternoon to give Trump an in-person briefing

The surveillance would have occurred while Obama was still president. Nunes said he could not rule out the involvement of senior Obama administration officials.

Standing in front of the White House, the Republican lawmaker told reporters: 'This is information that was brought to me that I thought the president needed to know about incidental collection where the president himself and others in the Trump transition team were clearly put into intelligence reports that ended up at this White House and across a whole bunch of other agencies, and I thought it was important for the president to know.'

Nunes said he had a 'duty' to bring the information to the Oval Office occupant and leader of the Republican Party.

So disturbed was the House intel chairman by the reports he says he saw, he came to the White House straight away to brief the president - after first holding a news conference on Capitol Hill with reporters.

'What I have read bothers me, and I think it should bother the president himself and his team because I think some of it seems to be inappropriate,' Nunes said after his sit-down with Trump.

The statement was in response to a question about the nature of the surveillance. Nunes said it had 'nothing to do' with Russia or the FBI's Russian investigation, prompting an inquiry as to whether he thought it was politically motivated. He did not answer in the affirmative, yet he did not bat the suggestion down.

'I think the president is concerned, and he should be,' Nunes said of Trump's response to the information. 'I think he’d like to see these reports and hopefully when we get them they'll get them to the White House also.'

'What I have read bothers me, and I think it should bother the president himself and his team because I think some of it seems to be inappropriate,' Nunes said in front of the White House after his sit-down with Trump

Nunes would not say how Trump transition officials were caught up in the surveillance - and whether any of them work at the White House

How many Trump transition officials were named in the reports, Nunes could not say. He dodged a related question about whether any those people are currently working at the White House.

Nunes briefed House Speaker Paul Ryan, CIA Director Mike Pompeo and NSA Director Mike Rogers before he came to the White House. He said will soon share his findings with Comey, whose bureau, he said, has been less than helpful.

Left out of the equation was Congressman Adam Schiff, the House Intelligence Committee's top Democratic member.

Nunes and Schiff are from opposing sides, but they are both members of the California delegation and had to this point worked closely together.

If the information that Nunes had his hands on was 'accurate,' Schiff said in a blistering statement, it should have been shared with the entire intelligence committee.

'Indeed, it appears that committee members only learned about this when the Chairman discussed the matter this afternoon with the press.'

He added: 'A credible investigation cannot be conducted this way.'

Livid, Schiff told reporters on Capitol Hill, Nunes 'will need to decide whether he is the chairman of an independent investigation into conduct which includes allegations of potential coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russians, or he is going to at as a surrogate of the White House – because he cannot do both.'

Nunes on-camera remarks Wednesday afternoon left Trump's press secretary equally flat footed.

'The media has more information than we do at this point,' Sean Spicer said as reporter after reporter asked him in his daily briefing what he expected Nunes to say to the president.

Last week Nunes' Committee, along with its counterpart in the U.S. Senate, concluded that no evidence existed to support Trump's allegation that Obama wiretapped him.

FBI Director James Comey said much the same thing at a hearing on Monday.

Nunes said Wednesday that it remained his assessment that wiretapping of Trump Tower 'never happened' while claiming that U.S. intelligence reports brought to him by unnamed sources that he said include 'significant information' about Trump and his transition team.

'I've seen dozens of reports,' Nunes said at his press conference on Capitol Hill. 'It's all classified information' and 'has nothing to do with any criminal investigation. This is normal incidental collection, at least from what I was able to read.'

He told reporters he didn't understand 'why people would need to know that about President-Elect Trump or his transition team.'

But he declined to declare that the CIA, FBI or NSA was 'spying' on Trump.

'It all depends on one's definition of spying ... I'm not going to get into legal definitions here, but clearly I have a concern,' he said. 'It has nothing to do with any criminal investigation ... It was normal foreign surveillance, is what it looks like to me.'

Nunes's description of the reports he has seen is in line with the kind of surveillance that led to the disclosure of talks between Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak and the president’s former National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn.

Kislyak was under routine foreign surveillance by the FBI when he called Flynn during the transition, intelligence officials have said. That information was leaked to the press, and Flynn was accused of misleading the White House about the content of his conversations.

Flynn’s name was revealed by The Washington Post.

At the White House, Nunes said the information he saw 'definitely goes beyond what happened to General Flynn.'

'We don't actually know yet, officially what happened to General Flynn,' he added. 'We just know that his name leaked out, but we don’t know how it was picked up.'

In this case, 'there were additional names that were unmasked,' he said.

The House Intelligence Committee asked the the FBI, NSA and CIA for that information and has not received it yet.

FLAT-FOOTED: 'The media has more information than we do at this point,' Sean Spicer said as reporter after reporter asked him in his daily briefing what he expected Nunes to say to the president

At his briefing Spicer emphasized that 'American citizens are prohibited by law from being ' "unmasked" – from having their names put out there.'

Spicer was unable to say if the people Nunes said were 'unmasked' - but did not name- were the same as the Americans who had been previously leaked.

Aside from Flynn, Paul Manafort, Carter Page and Roger Stone were named as Trump associates under FBI surveillance in a Jan. 19 New York Times article.

On reporter asked if Nunes' comments could merely reflect what was already known about Flynn.

'I don't know. ... until the president gets briefed, I don't know what he knows,' Spicer responded.

In a statement Schiff implied that Nunes comments about the unmasking were misleading.

Once he finally had a chance to speak to the Republican Congressman, Schiff says he learned that 'most of the names in the intercepted communications were in fact masked, but that [Nunes] could still figure out the probable identity of the parties.

'This does not indicate that there was any flaw in the procedures followed by the intelligence agencies,' Schiff's statement said.

He reiterated at the end, 'It certainly does not suggest -- in any way -- that the president was wiretapped by his predecessor.'