House Speaker Paul Ryan has said previously that he does not know the identity of House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes’ source. | AP Photo Paul Ryan: Nunes’ source was ‘whistle blower-type person’

The source for House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes’ allegation that members of President Donald Trump’s transition team were the subject of inadvertent surveillance by the intelligence community was a “whistle blower-type person,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said in an interview broadcast Thursday morning.

Nunes (R-Calif.) has thus far been unwilling to publicly disclose who his source was, nor has he been willing to share that information with other members of the House Intelligence Committee from either party. Ryan (R-Wis.), who sat for an interview Wednesday with “CBS This Morning” anchor Norah O’Donnell, has said previously that he does not know the identity of Nunes’ source.


“He had told me that like a whistle blower-type person had given him some information that was new that spoke to the last administration and part of this investigation,” Ryan told O’Donnell. “He briefed me about it. Didn’t know the content of it. Only knew the nature of it and that he was going to brief others.”

Ryan, a member of the Gang of Eight lawmakers who are briefed on intelligence matters, said he has not seen the intelligence on which Nunes based his public statement last week but that “we want this information to be provided to Congress and we’re waiting for it to be provided to Congress.” Asked why Nunes’ information had not yet been shared with other House Intelligence Committee members, Ryan said he did not know.

The Intelligence Committee chairman’s decision to keep his intelligence and its source close to the vest has stirred controversy and prompted calls from Democrats for Nunes to recuse himself from the committee’s investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. That Nunes decided to brief the president on his intelligence but not his fellow committee members raised alarms for many, as did the revelation that the California lawmaker met with his source inside the White House complex on the day before he went public with his revelation.