Nunes Reveals No Official Intel was Used to Start FBI Probe into Trump Campaign
Not a shred of official intelligence laid the foundation for the FBI’s investigation of any possible collusion between President Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes said Sunday, according to a report from Fox Business Network.
The California Republican said that according to established protocols, an investigation is supposed to have its roots in officially produced intelligence. The probe of alleged Russian collusion, something Trump has denied, is different, Nunes said.
“What we’ve found now, after the investigators have reviewed it, is that there was no intelligence,” Nunes told Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures.”
Bartiromo asked Nunes to explain how an investigation could begin without official intelligence.
.@DevinNunes: "The mainstream media & @TheDemocrats have been running around talking about 'collusion, collusion, collusion' – when they figured out there was no collusion, they moved on to 'obstruction of justice, obstruction of justice, obstruction of justice.'" #SundayFutures pic.twitter.com/SxsvX5fk5l
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 22, 2018
“I think that is the point,” Nunes replied. “We don’t understand … we have access to the finished intelligence products and we have never seen one.”
He said the panel, at one time thought such intelligence had been missed. But he’s now certain it was not.
“We now know that there was no official intelligence that was used to start this investigation,” he said.
Nunes said that the so-called “Five Eyes” agreement among the U.S., Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand allows for a coordinated review of intelligence information that was given to the U.S.
“We are not supposed to spy on each other’s citizens, and it’s worked well,” he said. “And it continues to work well. And we know it’s working well because there was no intelligence that passed through the Five Eyes channels to our government. And that’s why we had to see that original communication.”
Nunes said that the State Department is emerging as a focal point of concern, because Hillary Clinton loyalist Sidney Blumenthal was among those giving information to the State Department.
“So we’re trying to piece all that together and that’s why we continue to look at the State Department,” Nunes said, noting that he has found “major irregularities,” about information flowed from the State Department to the FBI.
,@DevinNunes: "We do know that longtime associates of @HillaryClinton, including Sidney Blumenthal and another person named, I think, Cody Shearer, were actively giving information to the @StateDept that was somehow making its way to the @FBI." #SundayFutures @MariaBartiromo pic.twitter.com/nUw5gIHCB7
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 22, 2018
“We know a little bit about that because of what some of the State Department officials themselves have said about that,” Nunes said. “We have to make sure that our agencies talk and they work out problems. We have to make sure that they don’t spy on either American citizens or that we’re not spying on British citizens.”
Over the weekend, Nunes slammed Democrats for filing a lawsuit claiming the Trump campaign conspired with WikiLeaks and Russia to interfere with the 2016 presidential election, according to The Hill.
During an interview Saturday on Fox News’ “Justice with Judge Jeanine,” he told host Jeanine Pirro that the lawsuit was a “scam” and a “fundraising scheme.”
“This is nothing more than a scam to keep their base fired up,” Nunes said. “This is about the extreme left, the socialist left wanting to never accept that the president of the United States rightfully and duly elected, carried a number of states that nobody expected him to carry.”
“They ought to be suing themselves,” Nunes added. “They’re the ones that colluded with the Russians.”
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