Swalwell on Nunes fallout: ‘This is what a cover-up to a crime looks like’

House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes’ announcement last week that officials from the transition team of President Donald Trump had been inadvertently surveilled by the U.S. intelligence community came at the behest of the White House, Rep. Eric Swalwell said Tuesday morning.

Nunes (R-Calif.) confirmed Monday that he had traveled to the White House to meet with his still-unnamed source on the day before he made his announcement but denied that the public disclosure was coordinated in any way with Trump administration officials. The White House, Nunes said in a CNN interview, simply served as a secure location for reviewing classified information and “I’m quite sure that I think people in the West Wing had no idea that I was there.”


But Swalwell (D-Calif.), also a member of the House Intelligence Committee, disputed the chairman’s argument Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “It’s not an internet cafe. You can’t just walk in and receive classified information,” Swalwell said of the White House, adding that when a member of Congress visits, “everyone in the building knows that you’re there in the building.”

“This is done because the White House wanted it to be done,” the California Democrat said. “And this is what a cover-up to a crime looks like. We are watching it play out right now.”

If Nunes wanted to view classified materials, Swalwell said, there are secure facilities for doing so at the Capitol, making a trip to the White House unnecessary. “If this was done the proper way, they could have brought it over, shared it with both parties of the committee,” he said.

Swalwell also wondered aloud why Nunes has been unwilling to share the source of his information when committee members have “always been on the same team up until now.”

In the wake of Monday’s revelation regarding Nunes’ White House visit, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, has called on Nunes to recuse himself from the committee’s investigation into ties between the Russian government and the 2016 election. Swalwell echoed that call and, without naming specific lawmakers, said he’s heard frustration from Republicans that Nunes has at least created the perception of a compromised investigation.

“A lot of them have said that we don’t need an independent commission because we’re doing the work in the House committee, on the intelligence committee, and so that’s always been the out for not having an independent commission,” Swalwell said. “So I’ve heard frustration that they don’t have that out anymore. So where do we go now?”