On Tuesday’s edition of Morning Joe, political analyst John Heilemann asked a question of Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) that he readily admitted “under almost any other circumstances would be ridiculous and absurd, but under these circumstances I think is actually warranted.”

“Is it possible that the Republican chairman of the House Intel Committee has been compromised by the Russians?” Heilemann inquired. “Is it possible that we actually have a Russian agent running the House Intel Committee on the Republican side?”

The pundit was referring to Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), the man behind the explosive memo that aims to cast doubt on the FBI’s handling of the investigation into Russia’s election meddling.

Murphy replied by saying: “I hope that’s not the case and I certainly have no information to suggest that it is.”

Notably, he did not call the notion “ridiculous” or “absurd.” Instead, Murphy suggested that Nunes was “instinctually” acting to protect President Trump.

“Doesn’t his behavior speak of that though?” Heilemann pressed on. “I’m not the first person who’s raised this. He’s behaving like someone who’s compromised and there are people in the intelligence community and others with great expertise in this area who look at him and say, ‘That guy’s been compromised.’”

Later, Heilemann asked the same question to Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), who sits on the intel committee with Nunes. “I can’t speak to his motives,” the congressman said. But he did add, “I think he’s been compromised by the White House.”