by WorldTribune Staff, February 28, 2017
The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said “there’s nothing there” on allegations that President Donald Trump’s campaign advisers had improper contact with Russian agents prior to the election.
Rep. Devin Nunes, California Republican, told reporters on Feb. 27 that “as of right now, of the initial inquiries I’ve made to the appropriate agencies, I don’t have any evidence.”
One reporter asked Nunes whether he has been directly informed by federal investigators that there is no evidence of improper phone calls or whether the evidence has just not yet been turned over to his committee.
“The way it sounds like to me is it’s been looked into, and there’s no evidence of anything there. Obviously, we’d like to know if there is,” he said.
The New York Times on Feb. 14 reported that federal investigators have evidence that at least three former Trump campaign advisers communicated with members of the Russian government prior to the election. The newspaper also reported — though further down in the story — that investigators had not found evidence that influencing the election was discussed in those calls.
The former advisers have all denied having contact with Russian officials during the campaign. The White House contends that FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe told White House chief of staff Reince Priebus on Feb. 15, the day after the Times piece was published, that the article was “bullshit.”
Nunez also said that he will not subpoena Trump’s tax returns as part of the committee’s investigation into alleged links to the Russian government.