Intelligence panel’s head speaks one day ahead of FBI chief’s testimony

A congressional intelligence panel so far has found “no evidence” that Donald Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 election, its chairman said on Sunday, ahead of testimony by the head of the FBI on the U.S. President’s potential Russia ties.

Based on “everything I have up to this morning — no evidence of collusion”, by Mr. Trump’s team and Moscow, Representative Devin Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told Fox News.

Mr. Nunes made his remarks one day before Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey is to face lawmakers on the panel.

Monday’s hearing was also expected to address a second explosive issue: Mr. Trump’s unsubstantiated accusations of wiretapping by Barack Obama — charges that have roiled political waters in Washington for the past two weeks.

Mr. Trump on March 4 tweeted that Mr. Obama had “tapped” his phone — a charge that has consumed political debate in the U.S. capital.

The U.S. intelligence community has publicly blamed Russia for hacks of the Democratic National Committee last year, and suggested the cyberattacks were aimed at steering the election to a Trump victory.

Russia has denied involvement in the hacks, and Mr. Trump has denounced the tumult over the Russia connections as a “total witch hunt”.

But the question of whether Trump Tower was bugged nevertheless has risen to the top of Washington’s political agenda, becoming something of a national obsession even as a growing number of lawmakers and top U.S. officials assert there is no evidence of any such claim.

The wiretapping issue mushroomed last month, when Mr. Trump’s national security adviser Michael Flynn was forced to resign after it was revealed he had misled top officials over his contacts with Russia.

Mr. Nunes has said that the intelligence committee probe focuses in part on who revealed the fact that Mr. Flynn had unreported private contacts with the Russians over the issue of international sanctions against Moscow.

Domestically, the headline-grabbing controversy over the wiretapping claim has pulled attention away from Trump's effort to push through other key items on his agenda, including the planned repeal of Mr. Obama’s healthcare law, tax reform and his controversial travel ban.