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McCain Urges Nunes to Explain Visit to WH Prior to Briefing Trump on Wiretapping

© REUTERS / Henry RomeroUS Senator John McCain attends a news conference at the Benjamin Franklin Library in Mexico City, Mexico December 20, 2016.
US Senator John McCain attends a news conference at the Benjamin Franklin Library in Mexico City, Mexico December 20, 2016. - Sputnik International
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US House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes must explain why he went to the White House the day before he told President Donald Trump about incidental surveillance on his team during the presidential transition period, Senator John McCain said in an interview on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Nunes’ spokesman has said the congressman visited the White House on March 21 to review information provided by a source.

The following day, Nunes confirmed in a press conference that the US Intelligence Community collected information on Trump’s transition team. Moreover, Nunes said the collection was unrelated to allegations of Russian collusion and widely disseminated within the US government.

"I think there needs to be a lot of explaining to do," McCain stated on CBS News. "I’ve been around for quite a while and I’ve never heard of such thing."

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif. gives reporters an update about the ongoing Russia investigation adding that President Donald Trump's campaign communications may have been monitored during the transition period as part of an incidental collection, Wednesday, March 22, 2017, on Capitol Hill in Washington. - Sputnik International
Nunes Apologizes to Intel Committee for Briefing Trump on Surveillance
McCain further said Nunes should reveal the source of the information he discussed at the White House.

Later, Nunes explained why he decided to brief the press and US President Donald Trump on new intelligence information before telling the ranking Democrat on the committee.

Intelligence Committee ranking member Adam Schiff, a Democrat representing California’s 28th district, said later on Wednesday that Nunes did not follow proper protocol of the investigation, and called his briefing of the US president a profound irregularity.

On March 4, Trump took to Twitter to accuse Obama of having his Trump Tower headquarters' "wires tapped" prior to the 2016 presidential election, describing this as the former administration's "new low. The president went on to compare the alleged surveillance to McCarthyism and the Watergate scandal. The claims have been rejected by Obama's representative.

The US House and Senate Intelligence Committees have found no credible evidence to support Trump's claims.

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