House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Adam Schiff (D-CA) called on Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes (R-CA) to recuse himself from the House Russia investigation on Monday. Schiff stated, “After much consideration, and in light of the Chairman’s admission that he met with his source of information at the White House, I believe that the Chairman should recuse himself from any further involvement in the Russia investigation, as well as any involvement in oversight of matters pertaining to any incidental collection of the Trump transition, as he was also a key member of the transition team.” Nunes met with President Trump to discuss intelligence findings and also visited the White House to view classified documents.
Nunes and Schiff, who have had a close working relationship in private, are showing splits in their public relationship as Schiff grows more vocal in his criticism of the chair. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) also called upon Representative Nunes to recuse himself from the investigation on Monday, “Speaker Ryan must insist that Chairman Nunes at least recuse himself from the Trump-Russia investigation immediately. That leadership is long overdue.”
“Speaker Ryan has full confidence that Chairman Nunes is conducting a thorough, fair, and credible investigation,” Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong said.
Nunes said in defense of his White House meeting on CNN, “The Congress has not been given this information, these documents, and that’s the problem. This is Executive Branch.”
Nunes’s communications director, Jack Langer, flatly stated that Nunes would not recuse himself, “Of course not. They’re playing an absurd political game.”