Lawmakers in dark about 'phase two' of Nunes investigation
It would appear more is coming
House Intelligence Committee lawmakers are in the dark about an investigation into wrongdoing at the State Department announced by Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) on Friday.
Democrats on the committee say Nunes has refused to brief them on the probe, which he described as “phase two” of his investigation into alleged surveillance abuse at the Department of Justice. Senior members say they learned of the investigation when Nunes announced it on Fox News.
And some committee Republicans appear to know little more than the Democrats.
Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas), the No. 2 Republican on the panel, said he had been briefed on “some of the priorities” of the probe but said he believes Nunes will lead the investigation. Rep. Tom Rooney (R-Fla.), who along with Conaway is leading the panel’s investigation into Russian interference in the presidential election, throughout the week has said he doesn’t know what the focus of the new probe will be.“He hasn’t talked to me about that,” Rooney said Monday, several days after Nunes announced the inquiry into State.
Some key Republicans insist that the new focus on State is nothing more than the committee exercising its oversight powers.
One member called the characterization of the State inquiries as a new investigation “a garble.”
Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), who was intimately involved in the creation of the surveillance memo released by Republicans and is participating in the inquiry into the State Department, also doesn’t view what Nunes is doing as a “phase II,” according to an aide, but rather an ongoing examination.
“It’s not Devin launching another investigation,” Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah) said. “We’re aware of it, we’ve talked about it, it’s just something that we know as much about at this point. That’s not because Devin has kept from us, it’s just we don’t know that much about it yet.”
Despite expressing some private uncertainty about the future of the committee’s expanding investigative purview, Republicans did not suggest they were being deliberately excluded from Nunes’s plans.
Democrats repeatedly pressed Nunes on the scope of his investigation into State in a bitter closed-door Monday meeting, the transcript of which was released on Friday. Nunes did not address the matter.
The apparent confusion comes as Democrats have accused Nunes — they suggest perhaps alone — of breaking committee rules by launching new investigations without briefing the minority.
"What you can glean from the process, in what he is saying, is this is not a committee activity, this is a Devin Nunes activity or arguably maybe a majority activity,” Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) said Thursday. “But again, none of the Democrats to my knowledge have been briefed on this.”
http://thehill.com/policy/national-s...-investigation
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