devin nunes's judgment call. he knew and paul ryan knew that that would be the headline toy, thadevin nunes says it was just a judgment call, sometimes those decisions are right, sometimes they're wrong, clearly suggesting there that his decision was probably wrong. especially since he apologized for that decision to his committee behind closed doors today. what devin nunes did yesterday might have begun as an attempt to help donald trump get out of trouble. but after his press conference in the white house driveway yesterday where he let it slip that he went to paul ryan first, he had a more important mission, to get paul ryan out of trouble. he apologized to his committee today because paul ryan wanted him to. paul ryan needed him to apologize to his committee today, to calm the insurrection against chairman nunes, to quiet the demands that paul ryan fire the chairman. and he needed devin nunes to claim that what happened yesterday was just his judgment call and to imply that it could have been the wrong judgmen

as devin nunes is. if devin nunes can lose his chairmanship over it then paul ryan can lose his speaker ship over it. speculation among staffers on the intelligence committee is that michael ellis is the source of the intelligence information nunes saw. this report says that he's a lawyer that works for him on the intelligence panel and who was recently hired to work on national security matters at the white house council's office and spokesman for nunes declined to comment on whether he was involved in providing information to nunes. so now we have a name to ask devin nunes about. was your source michael ellis? >> we're not going to ever talk about any of that. >> former acting director of the cia and jeremy bash, msnbc national security analyst and former chief of staff to leon when he was director and the defense department. john, your reading on where this story stands tonight, what makes sense to you in this story if anything and what doesn't make sense to you? >> well, there are more things that d

york times" report raises profound questions about who showed classified information to chairman devin nunesined by senator rand paul, republican of kentucky. thank you for being with us. >> thank you. >> i'm sure you have seen the "new york times" report that chairman nunes had at least two white house sources for that classified information that he then turned around and reported to the president. does that chain of events, the idea that the white house shared it with the chairman who then shared it back with the president, and the idea that they were talking about an investigation in the white house associates, does it concern you? >> it sounds like a lot of breathless reporting about the president was told classified material. i thought he was allowed to reed classified material. i see the reporting and i don't understand a bit about what people are talking about. what is the alleged impropriety with showing the president classified material? >> i think what people are looking at is the fact that white house staffers shared it with one member of the intelligence committee and not the ran

president said he feels somewhat vindicated by this which of course he's not vindicated at all in what devin nunes said. the other thing i want to say phil is talking about because you went right to russia. but chairman nunes said this had nothing to do with russia. >> and he also said the foreign intelligence collection was legal, meaning it was done through a search warrant, a fisa warrant and all of that. david axelrod is with us. it looks, certainly looks at this point, david, and you tell me if it could be fixed, this entire house intelligence committee investigation beginning this past monday with an extraordinary testimony from the fbi director, the national security agency, it looks like the whole thing has now been compromised. >> well, there's no question. look, this is a mind boggling development. for the chairman of this committee to ankle on down to the white house before he even informs the members of the committee on the matters in which he's briefing the president is just unfathomable. and you have to wonder what kind of pressure devin nunes was under from the white house and other

devin nunes moments ago tracked down in the halls of the capitol. he says the investigation will move on. listen. >> how does this investigation move forward now that democrats are calling for your recusal? >> move forward just like it was before. >> reporter: and you're not going to recuse yourself? >> the investigation continues. we've had an investigation into russia for many, many years. >> he said the investigation continues. he didn't directly answer the question of whether he will recuse himself. we don't know whether to read into that. so, democrats are calling for nunes to step aside, and this morning, really for the first time, we're starting to hear from republicans, in the senate mostly, but republicans now questioning the chairman's judgment. listen. >> i think you put his objectivity in question at the very least. >> there needs to be a lot of explaining to do. i've been around for quite a while, and i've never heard of any such thing. >> again, we are waiting right now. you're looking at a live picture from inside the capitol where ho

donald trump is the second person that devin nunes gave that information to today. the first was paul ryan. his boss in the house of representatives. and paul ryan then told chairman nunes to bring it to the president. to completely bypass his committee, to completely ignore the tradition and practice of sharing that with the ranking member of his committee, adam schiff. just run it right down to the white house. and so paul ryan left devin nunes wide open to accusations that he was running down to the white house to offer some political protection for the damage his committee did to the president on monday. and the white house immediately tried to use the information exactly that way. >> do you feel vindicated by chairman nunes? >> i somewhat do. i must tell you, i somewhat do. i very much appreciated the fact that they found what they found. >> here is the most important single reason that devin nunes did what he did today. he is a 43-year-old man who grew up on a big family farm in california that has been in his family for generations. went to community college,

republicans in the house want to have a fair and objective process moving forward, they need to replace devin nunes>> ryan just said he has complete confidence and faith in nunes that he's doing a fair and credible job. they are not going to replace nunes. >> that's always the first statement that suggests they are about to change. >> is that how it works? if they say something nice about the guy he's done? that's how you see it. >> that's oftentimes the case, let me just say that. >> listen, we're all very interested in this because there are fundamental questions about the security of our democracy and we'll be watching on this. jackie speier, let us know if you're able to see anything the american people should know about as well. appreciate you being on "new day." alisyn. >> chris, is this partisan split on the house intel committee compromising their investigation into russia? up next, we have two former members of that committee to share their insights on what should happen next. ♪ energy is amazing. how we use it is only limited by our imagination. and at southern company we're building the

we'll start with devin nunes.about where was he the day before, now it turns out he was on the white house grounds the day before he made a statement about maybe the president presiden presidentses a maybe the associates were swept up in some surveillance. you worked in that building. tell us what you make of this new information. >> well, i think what representative nunes was saying is he was on the white house grounds to meet his source. he said, i didn't go into the white house itself. the white house grounds, as you know, is the white house itself and where donald trump is right now and the oval office and the cabinet room and the situation room. and then the executive office building, now called the eisenhower executive building, the eob, which is a pretty office building, a big ornate building, where our staff work. lessertaff, below the top 25 to 35 who have offices in the white house itself. and to get cleared into the white house, in terms of security, it is just like the white house. you have to go throu

having me, wolf. >> do you know yet who at the white house gave the house intelligence chairman devin nunes those intelligence reports? >> well, i've seen the public reports as you have seen them. i think what is clear, wolf, is that what chairman nunes has done and i know him, i've traveled with him, he's a good person aside from this, but wha he has done has been a tremendous fumble and a tremendous mistake and as a member of the committee along with other democrats we're calling for his -- we're calling for a recusal simply for the fact because we know how damaging his actions are and have been. >> the "the new york times" as you know reports that two white house officials gave chairman nunes this information. th were high level officials, the senior director for intelligence at the national security council and a lawyer who was working on the national security council in the white house counsels office. can you say if these people gave chairman nunes these intelligence reports on their own or were they authorized at higher levels to do so? >> no, sir. >> but that's a key question right

and what we've seen with devin nunes and this white house is really in my book a thousand times worses should have known that when he was offered this he shouldn't have stepped forward without adam schiff, without consultation with his committee, without thinking about what his responsibilities were in this. and so it's very, very interesting when you look at just a recent case involving clinton and lynch in a democratic period, a democratic tenured president, now we're about 70 days into trump-land and we've got an extraordinary moment where potentially the white house has compromised the leading investigation right now into all sorts of issues. so i don't know how it will come out, but i do know this is feeling like, you know, we're speculating feeling like a very nixonian time where you imagine people sitting around with modern -- >> you know, chris, the point that i find suspicious with nunes is this that he went that night and he couldn't have possibly gone -- maybe he got a phone call, come frantically to the white house, we got to show you something, he goes over there, he sees

media reports this morning of staffers inside the trump white house shared intelligence filed with devin nunes. nunes took that information directly to the president, rather than to his own committee. this chain of events. >> the house and the senate are not in session today, and the man in the center of the controversy, his home state of california for the weekend. but the controversy of whether or not he colluded with white house officials to essentially backup trump's claim he was wiretapped is really taking over. >> em battled house intelligence chairman deven in nunes facing reports. >> i briefed the president on the concerns that i had. >> a bizarre development considering that nunes went back to the white house the next day to brief president trump on material he allegedly got from the president's own staff. >> was this an attempt to find post facto justification for the president's tweets? we don't have any of those answers because, as usual, the white house doesn't really answer questions about this. >> nunes's previous statements contradicting this new report. >> by holding the meeti

tonight, new details about house intelligence committee chair, devin nunes' whereabouts the night before this unusual press conference. >> what i have read bothers me and i think it should bother the president. >> reporter: it turns out nunes was on white house grounds, his spokesman confirming, 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. that's where nunes tells cnn he viewed information indicating incidental collection of the president's communications. a government official tells cnn, nunes was seen at the national security council offices at the eisenhower executive office building. despite nunes' assertion that no one from the white house knew that he was there, it raises several questions. who granted nunes access on to the white house grounds. who led him into the secure room at the e reob and who accessed e computer system to view the vials. white house press secretary, sean spicer, not providing answers. >> i'll be glad to check on that. i'm not sure tha

there any chance that devin nunes finally steps down?re certainly seems to be pressure for him to do it and steps down as chairman of this committee? >> i'm dumbfounded by what has been going on. and i would not hazard a guess or prediction. i would not be surprised if he did a press conference tomorrow naked. this could go any number of ways. it might be good for ratings. >> no it wouldn't! >> but the thing is that right now we need an investigation of what happened at the nsc in terms of helping trump prove this bogus tweet. and you have sean spicer coming out day after day saying we don't though who let these guys in. today he said i told you i would look into it. but i didn't promise i would share the information with you. you need to investigate what the white house knew, when it knew it and what happened and what the nsc staffers were doing. the senate committee is not going to do that. their hands are busy. so how can nunes investigate himself? i am reminded of that groucho marx routine when he cross-examined himself during a cour

named two senior white house officials, saying they gave the house intelligence committee chairman devin nunesccess to secret reports about surveillance. lots to discuss with our experts. phil muld, let me start with you. the "new york times" reporting that nunes's sources are actually senior officials in the white house counsel's office, the national security council. where does it go next? >> i think we have a couple of questions here that are pretty basic. the question so far have been about representative nunes and how he's led this hearing. i think the questions will shift to the white house and let me tell you why. just because you have a sop secret clearance, wolf, doesn't mean you get to see everything that's top secret. i know that sounds odd, but when i worked counterterrorism i had a top secret clearance. i didn't have to see everything related to russia. some of the most sensitive information you collect in the u.s. government relates to u.s. citizens who communicate with foreigners including people like the russians. here is the bottom line. were the white house officials authoriz

devin nunes still trying to explain himself. take a look at what he had to say last night. >> there's a lot of questions that the fbi director has to answer. that was our members, the republican side who really wanted to make sure that those questions were answered before we get to the rest of our witnesses. >> so what nunes is trying to explain is why the entire schedule for the house intelligence committee got blown up this week. i think we can show you what they had planned. they had planned a meeting on monday, an open hearing on tuesday. that was postponed. they had then planned to replace that open hearing, a closed door briefing with jim comey, the fbi director, and admiral rogers, who running the nsa. that has been postponed. and then a thursday committee meeting that they usually have as they're on their way out of town also as of right now not happening. you can contrast that with what's going on on the senate side. i think going into this, everybody expected the senate intelligence committee investigation into russia

devin nunes says he's not stepping down even though being pressured to do so. nunes saying his position is up to speaker paul ryan. >> he's conducting an investigation. he is the elected or appointed, i can't remember how they do it over there, but appointed and confirmed or however they put that by his colleagues in the house and the speaker. he is the chairman. nothing that i see is problematic in him conducting an investigation. >> i'd like to speak to paul ryan about this, but both dems and republicans are talking about what are improprieties in handling this. >>

jones has called for devin nunes to step aside. he has joined us on the independent commission bill. a lot of republicans have told myong we need a commission because we have a house investigation under way. they're rethinking that now. so i hope they reconsider it. leader nancy pelosi reminds me often that the september 11th commission was not created on september 12th. that it actually was over a year later. and that's because people doggedly pursued how we could bring republicans and democrats together to have such a commission. and it was the appeals of the families who came to washington that made it happen. so now we're hoping that it's the appeals of our constituents who care about free and fair elections that also get us to that point. >> i want to look at another moment in the press conference today that the senators had talking about their working relationship with each other. >> is there any circumstance with which you wouldn't share with mr. warner one of your sources of intelligence on this investigation? >> he usually

. >> it's been painful for devin nunes. devon, we have not talked in several months through this whole process the senate and house committee we are each running our own independent investigation. i would encourage devin to make sure he shares at least with the ranking member of the committee that they do that in the days ahead. i can tell you as a person who is a christian i believe in forgiveness and redemption. they have to find a way to be able to bury the hatchet and move on as a committee. the work of the committee is so exceptionally important. >> martha: indeed it is. senator lankford, thank you very much. good to have you here tonight, sir. >> thank you. >> martha: new reaction to a series of fierce denials coming out of kremlin starting with the russian president vladimir putin who said that alleged russian meddling in the 2016 election is purely political. watch this. >> anti-russian is play plagued political forces inside the united states to trade on that and positions inside. >> martha: same was heard from rus

neither devin nunes will either.e will not say whether the white house had any role whatsoever when i asked him multiple occasions now. adam schiff yesterday raised concerns, i asked him specifically do you think the white house was involved the effort to under cut your committee? >> what's the best route to doing a credible investigation? if there's been a substantial question about whether we can do that we need to take whatever steps are necessary to restore credibility to the investigation. >> reporter: the question going forward is whether or not the house intelligence committee can produce a bipartisan product in a committee that's really been bogged down in part son politics, while trying to lay the ground work saying they are trying do a very deep dive on the issue of russian meddling between the trump campaign officials and russian officials. who will be the first of the trump associates to testify? we don't know. but do know jared kushner will at least have a private interview with the senate intelligence c

. >> did you help provide devin nunes with information? >> i'm not talking to anything. >> i have no idea. >> current investigation going on by chairman nunes. >> nothing to say. >> the key white house players identified in the devin nunes saga offering no comment today, but as democrat adam schiff views intelligence at the white house, what will he find? >>> rounding out our agenda, democrats onboard with gorsuch, two democrats say they'll vote to send gorsuch to the supreme court but as others consider their move, how much is 2018 weighing on their minds? all that and more still ahead this hour. >>> we begin right now with our top story. president trump saying he wants his former national security adviser michael flynn to testify. flynn's lawyer -- excuse me, i think we have to go to the white house. we are seeing the president. >> during the campaign, i traveled the nation and visited the cities and towns devastated by unfair trade policies. probably one of the major reasons i'm here today. trade. nobo nobody's ever made bad trade deals

now, devin nunes doesn't know. so, i guess that means he now doesn't know why he ran to tell paul ryan about the reports, then ran down to the white house to tell the president. on fox news, devin nunes gave yet another reason for running to the white house. >> i felt i had a duty and obligation to tell him because he's been taking a lot of heat in the news media. >> devin nunes thought he could help the president out with the heat he's taking in the news media. there is no governmental reason to go to the white house in what you just heard devin nunes say on fox news last night. absolutely none. on fox news last night, devin nunes is admitting he did it for nothing but public relations reasons to help the sunking credibility of the pathological liar in the white house whose credibility can never be helped because he lied his way through life. devin nunes is in way over his head. he is obviously incompetent. he has no idea how to properly handle intelligence and is now trying to publicly block his own committee's p

it is devin nunes's fault for the break down of bipartisanship in the house.hat is interesting is the senate is following this idea here in washington that it's always a little bit older, little more mature. >> grown up? >> little bit more grown up than the house which tend to be a little bit more rockish and rowdy an partisan and more following that pattern certainly in this investigation. >> what did you make, david, of senator warner's comments about actually obtaining a lot of the documents they want because there could be complications? >> yeah. i think the way it was phrased, he wants to push but at the same time do it in that methodical way. not get ahead of themselves. because this he have this opportunity to do a do-over here, wolf. to do it in a way that speaks confidence not the sort of amateur hour that unfolded the last several dayes with congressman nunes and i think that's the way he wanted it. >> they are saying rebecca they are open to subpoenaing documents, individuals they said internationally, that's different. you can't subpoena something

republican devin nunes says u.s. investigators picked up conversations potentially associated with president trump during apparently legal surveillance of foreign officials, not related to russia. tonight, the committee's ranking democratic adam schiff said he was blindsided by this information. he has grave doubts about devin nunes's handling of the investigation. and nunes agree there is no evidence to support president trump's claim that he was wiretapped by president obama. tonight mr. trump says he feels, quote, somewhat vindicate. i'll talk about all the news with senator lindsey graham. our correspondents and analysts are also standing by. first, let's go to manu raju, he's covering a stunning new cur curveball and the very angry reactions from the top democrats. manu, walk us through the breaking story. >> tonight, devin nunes, the chairman of the committee, creating an uproar by going public with what he learned from a secret source that some of trump's communications with officials were picked up incidental

level of concern about what you've seen and heard today between devin nunes and now adam schiff? >> my level of concern is what i think most americans would be right now, congressman nunes be impartial in his deliberation on whatever information we gather and the investigation that we're doing. it's ben done as we know. we're going to be hearing that gathering of information, and have to make some decisions. and it's going to be hard for people to believe that he could be impartial. >> you know, this comes at a time, if you recall, and i know this happened a couple of weeks ago, but the white house essentially reached out to the two republican chairman of the intelligence committees, devin nune serks and richard burr whose the republican chairman of the intelligence committee that you sit on, to essentially help push back on some of these stories. that made a lot of folks in congress uncomfortable because these are -- these are oversight committees. that are designed to provide accountability of the executive branch by the legislative branch. these are not staffers of the white ho

this was distraction by devin nunes that donald trump claimed that president obama had personally ordered on him. the fbi director says no evidence of that. she says, this is essentially nunes trying to get media attention, trying to get publicity that would distract from that reality. what would you say to that? >> my reaction is quite different which is everyone ought to go very slow. we know that general flynn's name was unmasked, and that was wrong, and it was probably a criminal felony done by somebody, we have to find out who. we also know that there's a very serious investigation into russian manipulation of the election and i think the president ought to ask director comey whether there are people who ought to be fired immediately if they're in fact connected with an ongoing eps nation investigation. if names were unmasked at the white house and opm, if i revealed names of people who identities were collected in an incidental collection of an otherwise legitimate surveillance, i would have gone to jail. it's a very serious subject and if nunes is making it up, he will be in troubl

there is nothing to suggest that devin nunes has done anything improper. but he has certainly acted in a very unusual way over the course of this week. and if you analyze what's happened, he simply disappeared on tuesday evening from the perspective of his staff. and they didn't understand what was happening, even until the last minute before his press conference on wednesday. these are, like i said, folks with a lot of experience. and they could provide a lot of guidance for the chairman that would have led him perhaps not to hold a press conference on wednesday morning. perhaps not to make these kinds of allegations which ultimately he had to walk back or create a lot of confusion. or to kind of destroy whatever hope there was left for bipartisan investigation on the committee. >> eli, did you get a chance to ask devin nunes about his first stop with speaker ryan before going to the white house and what ryan said to him, what he told him to do? >> i did not ask him about speaker ryan. and i have to tell you that it was one of these situations where the c

devin nunes. the white house deny it is coordinated with nunes. >> and the senate intel committee begins its first open hearing on russia tomorrow. this as the president revisits the health care battle predicting it will be easy to get a deal. he is also out touting the u.s. mission in iraq is going very well. he never mentioned the air strike that killed 100 in mosul. it is day 69. let's start with sara murray. >> reporter: good morning, alvaren alisyn. it is clear they are struggling with how to move forward with the russia investigation. the house intelligence chairman and white house are on defense. >> are you going to stay as chairman and run this investigation? >> why would i not? >> reporter: devin nunes defiant among calls for him to step aside from the panel's russia investigation. >> will you recuse yourself? >> reporter: the house russia probe put on hold as democrats accuse the chairman of stalling. >> the investigation certainly has ground to a halt. here is the odd thing. all meetings

and it comes not from devin nunes, it comes from the white house itself, through devin nunes. on paper, it does seem -- >> it also hasn't come, because the contents -- >> -- at arm's length -- >> the contents was nothing. >> the left has kept saying all along, why didn't the president just call, pick up the phone and ask the fbi or the justice department if he was being wiretapped. he could have done that. but the minute he did that, if he had done it, then he would have been accused of interfering with the investigation. >> that's not what this is about. >> jack, you should be -- jack, you're the one who should be mad here. someone who comes on tv to defend the administration. you should be mad that they've made your job so difficult over the last week. >> no, no, no. >> look what -- they could have done this so easily, jack. >> i'm outnumbered. >> let me make up with point. they could have easily just given the information to the committee. >> and by the way -- and devon -- devin nunes gave an interview to ely lake who has lied. he said something that was not true. ely lake

do we expect anything with devin nunes to change in a couple of minutes? >> we don't expect it will change. this has been a statement the speaker has put out for the last week or so whenever asked about the house intelligence committee chairman. it's not really something that ryan has been particularly eager to get involved in. the pressure is mounting on him to potentially do or say something. we saw senator john mccain come out this morning and essentially say he has never seen anything like what happened with devin nunes in his career, and he has been around washington a long time. that, of course, though on the senate side. and so far, on the house side, republicans are sticking by devin nunes. i talked to peter king on his way into the gop conference meeting, and he repeated a line from trey gowdy, another member of the house intelligence committee. he says, it doesn't matter if he went to waffle house or the white house, it's all the same. peter king added if it had been the house of pancakes, same deal. i am an ihop girl myself. that's the line of d

> we're following breaking news, new revelations from the house intelligence committee chairman devin nunes about a secret nighttime meeting at a at of owl places the white house complex. a government official tells cnn nunes was seen tuesday night hat the national security offices at the eisenhower executive office building right next door to the west wing and oval office. while nunes won't say whathe learned, the following day he went before reporters and went to the president saying he had new information about possible surveillance of then president-elect trump and his top aides during the transition. this afternoon press secretary zane spicer refused to rule out the possibility that nunes' source came from inside the white house. i'll ask chairman nunes about all of this when he joins me live. that's coming up. >>> also breaking, word from the senate intelligence committee that president trump's senior adviser and son-in-law jared kushner just volunteered to answer questions for the committee's investigations into the russian activities surrounding the 2016 election. this comes as the

now, he previously worked for devin nunes. remember, key to point out here, the announcement from nunes set off a firestorm of controversy around him and around his committee's investigation into russian interference. nunes had briefed the president before sharing that material with his democratic colleagues on the intelligence committee. of course, those colleagues supposed to be working hand in hand with him here. that led to accusations that nunes was working with the white house and lending some -- to lend some credibility to trump's claims that he was wiretapped. this new report from "the new york times," if true, could certainly inflame those accusations. we should say this reporting from "the times" based on sources described only as several current american officials. as i mentioned before, nbc has not independently confirmed the report. the report also says that these officials, "played a role in providing the information. that they assisted in the disclosure of the intelligence reports. it is not clear what precisely

chairman nune stchlt is doiis d outstanding job. >> should devin nunes recuse himself from the investigationnd do you know the course of his information. >> no, and no. >> congressman, thank you for joining us. what do you think about chairman nunes? do you believe that he needs to recuse himself? >> absolutely not. of course the calls that are you getting from just the democratic side are there because they're partisan calls. the reason why these calls are being made is because devon noonenoo -- devin nunes has come forward and said the intercepted communications of the incoming trump administration that were possibly reviewed by the obama administration needs to be a serious issue that's reviewed. certainly the press is aware of these because of the leaks that occurred in the press and it is certainly part of what the overall investigation should be. obviously the democrats don't like that because it is something that inherently the press already knows was happening and certainly would be very condemning of the obama administration if they were improperly using intelligence community inter

is incredibly relevant to the house investigation would they not invite adam schiff along with devin nunes and say -- >> why not pick up the phone and say let's get chairman nunes on the grounds of the white house asap. >> and beyond that, if he was given information to say, i can't hoelld this information, goes to ethics issues involving chairman nunes. why didn't he see his first responsibility as his responsibility to the committee. they don't answer to the president. they have an independent investigation going on. there are a lot of ethical questions here. >> and one answer to that may be, if you ask devin nunes why he doesn't want to share, the sources of the white house and then adam schiff looks at that and thinks it's not credible. you have this circle problem here that comes to the chairman of the house intelligence committee and his own committee. that's why i think the real answers, if we can get accepted answers to this, it's going to have to come from the senate because the house process has become so politicized. >> i want to continue this conversation. let me play more soun

he's been following all of this and following the whereabouts and movements of devin nunes since this kind of played out. manu, what do we know right now? >> reporter: well, we do know that at least two white house staffers were involved in helping mr. nunes get this information. now, nunes has said privately, at least to speaker paul ryan, that a "whistleblower" was the person who helped provide him this information, and speaker paul ryan's office still says that's their understanding based on what devin nunes told them, saying they are fully support yiven of mr. nunes staying as chairman, even as democrats step up their calls for him to recuse himself from this investigation because of their belief that he's grown too cozy with the white house. now, what the democrats are trying to figure out is this, what did devin nunes know and how exactly did he learn this information. those are questions that adam schiff, the top democrat on the committee, has yet to understand. he responded to the white house's request yesterday, or at least their opening for him to review the information aski

tell us among those three were police officers -- >> sorry nick, got to go house intel chairman devin nunes just talking about in front of the white house. >> today i briefed the president on the concerns that i had about incidental collection and how it relates to the president-elect trump and his transition team and the concerns that i have. as i said earlier, there will be more information hopefully by friday. the nsa is cooperating very, very well and lastly i'll say that the reports that i was able to see did not have anything to do with russia or the russian investigation or any tie to the trump team. with that, i'll take a couple of questions. >> why is it appropriate for you to brief president trump given it is his own campaign or associates -- >> because what i saw has nothing to do with russia and nothing to do with the russian investigation. has everything to do with possible surveillance activities and the president needs to know these intelligence reports are out there. and i have a duty to tell him that. >>. [ inaudible ] >> i'm not drawing nik any conclusions. >> it appears i

first, peter, it the white house, is there any explanation for whom devin nunes was talking to? he said in in the white house proper. >> as we understand it from his office, that meeting took place for him to view the information from his source here on the white house grounds. as you know, that doesn't mean it took place in the residence, in the west wing. it could have happened in an office ablg adjacent to here. this is notable. not just anybody has access to the white house grounds. we heard from a long-time former aide who said in effect either the source is a white house staffer, the meeting was coordinated by a white house, or by a white house staffer because members aren't just given access to the white house grounds. this is notable because it raises questions about the independence of this investigation that is being led by the house intelligence committee with its leading member, the airman, in devin nunes, this republican who by this suggestion there now is great circumstantial evidence that it would an library this information came from somebody within the white hou

>> i like devin nunes.ted him. >> this has put a shadow on all of this. >> is this an authentic investigation by an independent branch of government or is devin nunes in constant touch with a lot of people in the white house and adjusting the investigation accordingly? >> is it possible to have an independent investigation if you're on the transition team and going around the committee having back door conversations and you're at the white house so you can have a secret location to talk to this source if he's woodward and bernstein as opposed to an elections official. if all of of this is happening it gives the appearance of impropriety and an appearance there's no way to have an impartial investigation. >> can i ask you a big question about health care. stlt happening, is it not happening? you, of course, talk to the president directly about this. now the house republican leadership seemed to open the door that maybe they are working on something but the white house isn't sure about how much how fast. >> w

it's been a remarkable couple of weeks. >> but neither of the scenarios look good for devin nunes, sean spicer said you guys are looking at the wrong thing, but how important is the process they followed? >> it's extremely important. it speaks to the head of the house intelligence committee and both of those people have much lower credibility now that we found out the things they said about the source of this information are turning out not to be true, okay, so the white house press secretary, but if the house intelligence committee chairman is saying it's a whistleblower, which is technically true but misleading and then find out it's the white house, it calls into question the viability of his investigation, which i think everyone can see is not salvageable. >> you look at the information, not how we got the information. i don't know what the information is. i don't know what the information is. >> right. we haven't been presented with that information. >> and that's the core of the whole problem is that the white house is intentionally conflated this information with the president's

devin nunes, chairman of the house intelligence committee, investigating the trump campaign's ties to russia says democrats aren't serious about the investigation. likewise, democrats have called for nunes to recuse himself. do you think the house is capable of handling this investigation? or do you think the senate needs to take the lead? i assume you have much greater confidence in the senate intelligence committee. >> absolutely. i sure do. i know the democratic ranking member mark warner is doing everything possible to keep that conversation series and focused. the intel committee is not enough. it's hard to get information back out of them. we need a public commission and a special prosecutor. >> senator jeff merkley, thanks for joining us. >> you're welcome. good to be with you. >> live pictures now from capitol hill. the heads of the senate intelligence committee, the chairman richard burr, the ranking member senator mark warner will repru their hearing tomorrow, russian interference from the u.s. presidential election. we'll have live coverage of that. this is an important eve

devin nunes is protecting that source. we'll not talk about that regardless how many times he's asked. we understand from intelligence officials during housley's reporting that chairman nunes is aware of one of the people that unmasked the identity of transition officials and may know the name of the person who ordered the unmasking. that was a big topic today at the briefing. let's listen to this exchange with sean spicer. >> fox news has been told by intelligence officials that chairman nunes is aware of who did the unmasking of certain individuals in the transition and may be aware of who ordered the unmasking of those individuals. is the white house aware of that information? >> i don't know what he knows in the sense that that's -- again, i've tried to make it a comment not to get into the specifics of that report. i will not -- i think it's not in our interest to talk about the process. what occurred between chairman nunes and coming here was both routine and proper. if everyone was treating the president of the admin

devin nunes has gone rogue. and not only should he not be engaged in this investigation, he should be -- he should be replaced on the committee. we have very small quarters in the skiff where we do our business. i can't feel confident that he will not be attempting to influence the investigation or hearing about things that he's then going to run to the white house. i actually have a theory that this has all been orchestrated in conjunction with the white house. obviously, it has to be. how does he -- he's not talking to some mole on the white house grass. he is -- he is very engaged with the president in trying to deflect the focus which has been on russian meddling in our elections. now, that hearing last week was a -- a bomb went off. when director comey said not only are we investigating the meddling by russia in our elections but we are investigating those associated with the trump campaign and what relationships they had with russia. that was -- a fire went off. we all looked at each other thinking oh, my