Updated at 3p.m. CDT with comments from Trump and others.

WASHINGTON -- Texas Rep. Mike Conaway is taking the helm of the House-led probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, after embattled Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes agreed to step aside Thursday.

Democrats had called for Nunes to recuse himself amid accusations he's not impartial. But they weren't lavishing praise on Conaway, either. They pointed to comments he made in January dismissively comparing the interference of Russia hackers to the participation by Mexican entertainers at Hillary Clinton campaign events.

Those comments caused an uproar, but nothing like the firestorm Nunes set off last month when he announced that he had obtained new information suggesting that communications of President Donald Trump and his associates may have been swept up in surveillance of foreign nationals.

Nunes' sources were later revealed to be White House officials. On Thursday morning, the House Ethics Committee announced that it has opened an investigation into Nunes.

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"The Committee is aware of public allegations that Representative Devin Nunes may have made unauthorized disclosures of classified information, in violation of House Rules, law, regulations, or other standards of conduct," the ethics panel said in a statement.

Trump used Nunes' comments to claim validation for an unfounded accusation that as president, Barack Obama had illegally ordered surveillance of him at Trump Tower. He has yet to offer any evidence for that accusation. Nunes, among others with access to classified material, has repeatedly declared publicly that there is no evidence.

Even so, Democrats raised doubts about his ability to pursue the inquiry honestly, given his role as an adviser to the Trump transition. His secret meeting with top White House officials, and public comments about material he didn't share with anyone else on the committee, opened him to allegations of political favoritism.

House Speaker Paul Ryan announced the shake-up, even as he expressed ongoing confidence in Nunes.

"He wants to go clear himself while this investigation continues on without any kinds of distractions," Ryan said. "Chairman Nunes has offered to step aside as the lead Republican on this particular probe, and I fully support his decision."

Nunes said he is stepping down only temporarily, during the ethics investigation.

Conaway's credentials

Conaway, a Midland Republican, is chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, and has served for eight years on the Intelligence Committee. He chaired the Ethics Committee several years ago -- considered one of the more thankless tasks in Congress, given its role in policing and occasionally punishing colleagues.

In fall 2015, Conaway briefly flirted with a bid for speaker as Republicans scrambled to replace John Boehner.

Trump, speaking with reporters aboard Air Force One as he headed to Florida to meet with China's president, called Conaway "a highly-respected man" and "high-quality," though he also said they haven't met.

He called Nunes "a high-quality person" and a "very honorable guy." Asked if he believed Nunes shared classified information improperly, the president said that if so, "Nobody shared it with me, that I can tell you. Because I haven't looked."

Conaway also emphasized that his role is temporary, and he expects Nunes to be exonerated and to return.

"It is responsibility I take with the utmost seriousness. My profession as a CPA and auditor has taught me to be objective and methodical, and that is how I intend to help lead this investigation," Conaway said in a written statement expressing confidence that he can conduct an "effective, bipartisan investigation" with the panel's top Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff of California - an outspoken critic of Nunes in recent weeks.

Rep. Andre Carson, a Democrat on the Intelligence panel, called Conaway "solid." Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, a Dallas Democrat, said she has "great respect for Conaway so I hope he'll do a great job.

Texas Republicans had nothing but praise.

"He's smart, he's got great integrity, he's honest. He'll do a great job," said Arlington Rep. Joe Barton, a Republican. He refrained from weighing in on Nunes' decision to step down but said, "Conaway will do it right."

CPA in Congress

Conaway is one of the few CPAs in Congress. Before his election in 2004, one of his clients was the oil firm owned by future president George W. Bush. When House Republicans needed to clean up a fund-raising scandal in 2008, they turned to Conaway.

Corpus Christi Rep. Blake Farenthold, a Republican, called him "immensely qualified" and an "honorable human being....I can't think of anybody better to do it."

Austin Rep. Roger Williams, a Republican, called him a friend who will do a "great job."

"I'm sorry Nunes stepped down, but if he felt that was the way to do it, I'm behind him," he said. "He hasn't done anything wrong."

Still, Williams mused that too much focus in recent days has been on the chairman, instead of the investigation itself. "It's kind of like a coach, you know. When it becomes about the coach instead of the team, there's a problem," he said.

Nunes blamed his ouster on "left-wing activist groups" who filed accusations against him with the Office of Congressional Ethics.

"The charges are entirely false and politically motivated, and are being leveled just as the American people are beginning to learn the truth about the improper unmasking of the identities of U.S. citizens and other abuses of power," he said.

It's unclear if Nunes' departure will ease pressure for an independent investigation akin to the commission that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Democrats kept up their demands for that approach on Thursday.

"The investigation cannot remain in the hands of House Republicans," said Jessica Mackler, president of the Democratic research group American Bridge. "Rep. Conaway is a partisan hack just like Rep. Nunes and his credibility has already been compromised."

She cited comments Conaway made three months ago comparing Russian hackers who tampered with the U.S. elections to the use of Mexican entertainers at Hillary Clinton campaign events.

"Harry Reid and the Democrats brought in Mexican soap opera stars, singers and entertainers who had immense influence in those communities into Las Vegas, to entertain, get out the vote and so forth," Conaway told The Dallas Morning News on Jan. 12. "Those are foreign actors, foreign people, influencing the vote in Nevada. You don't hear the Democrats screaming and saying one word about that."

Said Mackler: "No one who peddles those types of sentiments should be tasked with overseeing an investigation of this magnitude."

While the House probe has been mired in partisanship, the Senate intelligence committee has projected a more cooperative approach. Chairman Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican, and vice-chairman Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, vowed a thorough inquiry.

But critics say the Senate also can't be fully entrusted to get to the bottom of a foreign assault on U.S. democracy.

Independent commission still wanted

Common Cause president Karen Hobert Flynn echoed the call for an independent commission. As for Nunes, she said, he should be removed from the intelligence committee entirely. She called an ethics inquiry entirely appropriate, given "his collusion with the Trump White House."

One Texan, Rep. Kenny Marchant, R-Coppell, is among the current Ethics Committee members who'll pursue that inquiry.

"He's a very competent guy," he said of Conaway. "I'd prefer Devin had stayed, but Conaway and I are good friends, we came to Congress at the same time, and we can trust his judgment."

Democrats were pleased to see Nunes removed but were howling at the decision to install, alongside Conaway, Rep. Trey Gowdy as one of the new Republican leaders of the investigation.

That, said Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the Democratic whip, "ought to raise red flags, given his history as the leader of the blatantly partisan Benghazi panel. The best way for Republicans to show that they are serious about getting to the bottom of Russia's interference in our democracy, instead of embracing disproven conspiracy theories promoted by the White House," would be to embrace creation of an independent commission.

Staff writer Jamie Lovegrove contributed to this report.