House intel chiefs spar over Trump-Russia evidence

House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) said Monday he’s seen no evidence of improper communications between the Trump campaign and Russia — a statement that drew a quick rebuke from the intelligence committee’s top Democrat.

The spat between Nunes and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) is the latest sign of how difficult it is keep politics out of the bipartisan investigations by the House and Senate Intelligence Committees into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election.


Nunes told reporters he had seen no evidence of collusion between President Donald Trump’s associates and Moscow, remarks that Schiff blasted as prejudging the outcome of their committee probe.

“We still have not seen any evidence of anyone from the Trump campaign or any other campaign, for that matter, that's communicated with the Russian government,” Nunes said Monday morning. He explained that while the committee investigation was still in its early stages, intelligence officials had briefed him on the “high points” of their own probes.

“As of right now, I don't have any evidence of any phone calls,” Nunes said. “That doesn't mean they don't exist, but I don't have that. And what I've been told by many folks is that there's nothing there.”

His remarks followed Friday’s revelation that he and Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) agreed to White House requests to talk to reporters and knock down allegations of repeated contacts between Trump aides and Russian officials.

Nunes defended his decision, saying he spoke to a journalist in an effort to be more transparent with the news media.

He also said he saw no need at this time for a special prosecutor to investigate the issue — something Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) called for on Friday.

“At this point, what are we going to appoint a special prosecutor to do exactly — to chase stories of American citizens that end up in newspaper articles?” Nunes said. “If at some point we have serious crimes that have been committed, then we would consider that.”

Nunes added that he had no plans to subpoena Trump’s tax returns, something Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) has said she was open to as part of the Senate’s investigation.

And he said he was extremely concerned about classified material leaking to the news media, suggesting that investigators would be able to narrow down who had access to transcripts of calls between former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and the Russian ambassador.

“We should be able to find out who in the executive branch knew about the initial conversations, and then who went to who to get Flynn's name unmasked,” Nunes said. “That should be a relatively small number of people.”

Schiff held a dueling news conference on Monday afternoon to fire back at Nunes.

“When you begin an investigation, you don’t begin by stating what you believe to be the conclusion,” Schiff said. “I don't think that anybody should prejudge at this point whether there were contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia, either directly or indirectly, through cutouts with businesspeople or any other way. We as an Intelligence Committee doing an investigation don't know. We don't know the answer.”

He said he had been part of private conversations with Nunes and intelligence officials and that he could not conclude from those discussions that there was no evidence of collusion.

Schiff also said that he and Nunes had requested a budget boost for the Intelligence Committee, saying current resources were inadequate to carry out a proper investigation. And he said he was concerned about whether the FBI would be forthcoming in sharing information with the committee.

“We will need the FBI to share with us what leads they have chased down, what leads they have not chased down, what investigation they have done, what they have not done — so that we can evaluate whether or not they have done a comprehensive job,” Schiff said, explaining that he had not yet received the assurances he was looking for from the bureau.

Earlier on Monday, Nunes had said he was still negotiating with the intelligence community about whether the evidence collected as part of the House investigation would reside with Congress or whether the evidence would be housed inside intelligence agencies.

“We'll probably have some here, some may remain with the agencies,” he said.

Relations between the leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee are also fraying over the Russia investigation.

Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate panel, issued a statement over the weekend saying he had “grave concerns” with Burr’s decision to agree to the White House’s request to talk to reporters about the probe.

“I will not accept any process that is undermined by political interference,” Warner said. "I am consulting with members of the Intelligence Committee to determine an appropriate course of action so we can ensure that the American people get the thorough, impartial investigation that they deserve, free from White House interference.”

