House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) said Wednesday that members of the Trump transition team were under surveillance in the final months of the Obama administration.
Whoa. At presser, Nunes just revealed IC collected info about Americans associated w/ the Trump transition team—separate from Russia probe.
— Eric Geller (@ericgeller) March 22, 2017
Nunes says most of this surveillance apparently happened in “November, December, and January” during transition.
— Eric Geller (@ericgeller) March 22, 2017
Information gathered during the surveillance, which Nunes said appeared to be legal and “incidental collection,” was unrelated to allegations of Russian collusion, but nonetheless “widely disseminated” within the government.
Trump’s communications were collected as part of the surveillance, Nunes says. Adds that it looks like incidental collection.
— Eric Geller (@ericgeller) March 22, 2017
Nunes: “This appears to be all legally collected foreign intelligence under FISA.” Says material was “widely disseminated.”
— Eric Geller (@ericgeller) March 22, 2017
Nunes again says the surveillance he’s discussing right now was completely separate from the Russia probe.
— Eric Geller (@ericgeller) March 22, 2017
“I recently confirmed that on numerous occasions, the intelligence community collected information on U.S. individuals involved in the Trump transition,” Nunes said.
Nunes says material collected was “significant information” about Trump and the transition team.
— Eric Geller (@ericgeller) March 22, 2017
Nunes: “I know there was incidental collection regarding the president-elect and his team.” Doesn’t know if surveillance was of phone calls.
— Eric Geller (@ericgeller) March 22, 2017
As others including @amir_anasr noted, Nunes initially said Trump’s comms were directly collected but has since walked it back.
— Eric Geller (@ericgeller) March 22, 2017
“Details about U.S. persons involved in the incoming administration with little or no apparent foreign intelligence value were widely disseminated in intelligence community reports.”
Nunes: Obama admin had "pretty good idea" of what President-elect Trump, his transition team were doing https://t.co/1UySlG6RGG
— Mikael Thalen (@MikaelThalen) March 22, 2017
Nunes said the information was “legally brought to him by sources who thought we should know it” and that he could not confirm if Trump himself was under surveillance. The Republican lawmaker also could not confirm whether the information collected had any connection to Trump Tower.
BREAKING: Nunes says "The American people would not be comfortable reading what I have read re: Surveillance on Donald Trump " #ObamaGate pic.twitter.com/MWX5Upp854
— STOCK MONSTER (@StockMonsterUSA) March 22, 2017
Nunes also said the White House was unaware of the specific surveillance allegations, but that he had already met with the heads of the CIA and NSA.
Nunes says he’s spoken to CIA Director Pompeo and NSA Director Rogers about this. Waiting to talk to Comey. He’s going to WH after votes.
— Eric Geller (@ericgeller) March 22, 2017
Seems like Spicer has no details on Nunes presser on surveillance: “I literally heard the statement, came out and briefed.”
— Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) March 22, 2017
Given that Nunes described the surveillance as unrelated to the Russia inquiry and incidental, the allegations may stir debate on the vast amounts of data captured by mass surveillance program.
Responding to the news, Trump said Wednesday afternoon that he felt partially “vindicated.”
“I very much appreciate the fact that they found what they found,” Trump said.
As revealed by Infowars earlier this week, Trump and members of his business and family had their information collected between 2004 and 2010 under an NSA metadata program. The data, shared widely throughout the government, was provided to Infowars by law enforcement sources with access to the database.
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