Devin Nunes says he is sending eight criminal referrals to US attorney general William Barr

Leak of call between Trump and Malcolm Turnbull could lead to criminal charges

The “absolutely horrific” leak of Donald Trump’s contentious 2017 phone call with Malcolm Turnbull could lead to criminal charges.

Devin Nunes, the highest-ranking Republican member on the US House of Representatives intelligence committee, announced on Sunday he was sending eight criminal referrals to the US attorney general, William Barr.

One is aimed at finding out who leaked transcripts of the US president’s phone call with Turnbull on 28 January 2017, a call with the then Mexican president, Enrique Peña Nieto, and former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s communications with a Russian ambassador.

Trump's sheriff? New US ambassador to Australia attacks Chinese influence in Pacific Read more

“You had conversations with the president of the United States and the prime minister of Australia leak,” Nunes told Fox News. “You had leaks of President Trump talking to the president of Mexico leak.

“We all know the travesty of General Flynn.

“Nobody knows where those supposed transcripts came from.

“Those are just three examples that are absolutely horrific but there’s things that are even worse that were leaked, and there were only two or three reporters involved in this, so it would not be hard to get to the bottom of.”

The Trump-Turnbull phone call transcript leak to the Washington Post rocked the usually solid US-Australian alliance, with both nations going into damage control when it was revealed the president abruptly cut short the planned hour-long call to just 24 minutes.

The transcript showed Turnbull pushing Trump to support the asylum seeker deal struck with the former US president Barack Obama. It was Trump’s last of numerous calls with world leaders that day, including the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.

“Putin was a pleasant call,” Trump told Turnbull. “This is ridiculous.”

Nunes said the eight referrals “are classified or sensitive” so he was unable to offer details.

Ex-Trump adviser takes aim at Alexander Downer after Mueller report Read more

“Five of them are what I would call straight up referrals, so just referrals that name someone and name the specific crimes,” Nunes said. “Those crimes are lying to Congress, misleading Congress, leaking classified information.”

The referrals also involve alleged abuse by “numerous individuals” of the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which involves surveillance warrants against suspected foreign spies inside the US.

Some Republican members of Congress allege the FBI counterintelligence investigation into potential collusion between Russia and the Trump election campaign, which led to the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, was marred by lies and false information to obtain Fisa warrants.