House Intel Chair Asked If He’s ‘Attempting to Give the President Political Cover’ on Wiretaps
Following his earlier press conference where he announced that he had discovered that members of the Trump transition team had their communications “incidentally collected,” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes held another presser after he briefed President Donald Trump on his findings.
After being pressed on whether or not this new info vindicates Trump’s wiretap claims — Nunes gave mixed answers — along with why he was briefing the president but hadn’t spoken to the ranking member of the intel committee, the Republican lawmaker was asked if he was trying to help out Trump.
“Legal collection, what is it that you find inappropriate about it?” a reporter stated, highlighting that Nunes had said this was all legally collected. “And are you attempting to give the president political cover for his wiretapping tweet?”
The California Congressman (and former Trump transition member) brushed the “political cover” part of the question aside, instead stating that he’s doing this because there are “procedures in place” to “protect American citizens who are incidentally collected.” He then said he wasn’t sure if this was “intentional spying.”
Earlier this month, Trump created a political firestorm by taking to Twitter to accuse his predecessor of illegally wiretapping him at Trump Tower prior to the election. Since then, the FBI director, Department of Justice and Senate and House Intel Committees have said they’ve found no evidence to back his claims.
Watch the clip above, via MSNBC.
[image via screengrab]
—
