The suggestion that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes traveled to the White House to brief President Trump on surveillance findings provided to him by the White House team “doesn’t pass the smell test,” press secretary Sean Spicer said Thursday.
Nunes traveled to the White House on Wednesday to inform Trump that his committee had uncovered evidence that the identities of several transition associates — and possibly of Trump himself — had been “unmasked” and placed in intelligence reports that were then distributed widely throughout the federal government.
Spicer wondered why Nunes would need to brief the White House if the White House had given him the information.
“My understanding … was that he spoke generally about what he had seen in those reports that he had been made privy to,” Spicer said.
Spicer noted that the reports were unrelated to a separate investigation Nunes’ committee is conducting into Russian cyber activities during the presidential race.
Critics had questioned the source of Nunes’ information and whether his decision to brief Trump before sharing his discovery with the committee was appropriate.
Nunes defended his move by arguing that the information he uncovered had nothing to do with Russian activities.
Trump said he felt “somewhat” vindicated by Nunes’ findings given that he had taken considerable heat for claiming, without evidence, that President Barack Obama had “wiretapped” Trump Tower before leaving office.
