“It’s clear that I would be concerned if I was the president," House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes said Thursday. | AP Photo Nunes: 'Duty and obligation' to go to Trump with surveillance intel

House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes said Thursday he "felt he had a duty and obligation" to inform President Donald Trump that transition officials on his team may have had communications intercepted inadvertently, a decision that has drawn the ire of congressional Democrats.

“It’s clear that I would be concerned if I was the president and that’s why I wanted him to know," the Republican lawmaker told Fox News' Sean Hannity during an interview Thursday night. "I felt I had a duty and obligation to tell him because as you know he’s been taking a lot of heat in the news media."


Nunes added that he felt sharing the information was necessary for Trump to make his own determination on whether the surveillance was carried out improperly.

"I think to some degree there are some things that he should look at to see whether in fact he thinks the collection was proper or not," he said.

Nunes reportedly apologized earlier Thursday to fellow panel members for not informing others, such as ranking Democrat Adam Schiff, about the intelligence before going to the White House. According to an aide, Nunes "pledged to work" with the Democratic minority on the issue.

Despite the admission, Nunes stressed that he felt Trump "needed to understand what I saw.''

Congressional Democrats ripped Nunes for going public with the information, questioning whether he could lead an independent investigation into the Trump campaign's ties to Russian officials.

On "Hannity," Nunes added that that the committee expected to get further intelligence on the intercepted messages Friday.