As part of a broad collection effort, U.S. intelligence operatives had gathered information on members of President Donald Trump‘s transition team for at least three months after he was elected in November, a top Republican House committee chairman said Wednesday — a disclosure that might now backfire on the GOP lawmaker.
Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., told reporters that he has seen intelligence reports that acknowledge surveillance of Trump’s transition team was done “incidentally” — and “legally” — in recent months.
Nunes said word of the surveillance came after he made a request for information as part of the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation of accusations by Trump this month that his New York City headquarters was wiretapped by former President Barack Obama‘s administration.
“While there was not a physical wiretap in Trump Tower, I was concerned that other surveillance activities were used against President Trump,” Nunes, the committee’s chairman, said. “On numerous occasions the intelligence community incidentally collected information about U.S. citizens involved in the Trump transition.”
The president’s accusations of listening devices planted in the Manhattan office building have yet to be corroborated, but many current and former law enforcement and intelligence officials — including FBI Director James Comey, NSA chief Mike Rogers and former DNI James Clapper — have discredited them.
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