Nunes Visited White House Day Before He Told Press About Surveillance, Spokesman Says

The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Devin Nunes, a Republican from California, visited the White House the day before he announced that Trump transition officials might have been picked up incidentally during surveillance, according to his spokesman.

"Chairman Nunes met with his source at the White House grounds in order to have proximity to a secure location where he could view the information provided by the source," the spokesman, Jack Langer, said in a statement to reporter.

The statement did not address whom Nunes met with at the White House.

Langer did tell reporters that because the documents that Nunes saw had not been delivered to Congress, he could not see them at the secure room that the House Intelligence Committee controls.

Nunes made a big stir last Wednesday when he announced to reporters that he had seen intelligence that people close to Trump — and possibly Trump as well — had been picked up by surveillance during the transition. He told reporters he was rushing to the White House to share with the president what he had learned.

He also said that he had not shared with fellow committee members what he had learned, leading to him apologizing to them the next day.

The twists in the story have led for some to call for House Speaker Paul Ryan to remove Nunes as chair of the Intelligence Committee.

"Schumer says if Speaker Ryan wants a credible investigation, he must remove Rep. Nunes as chairman of House Intelligence Committee," said Matt House, communications director for Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY).

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