House Intel Chair: Trump-Russia Ties? "Nothing There"

House Intel Chair On Trump-Russia Evidence: ‘There’s Nothing There’

By Chuck Ross of the Daily Caller 

The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said Monday that he will not subpoena President Trump’s tax returns as part of his investigation into links to the Russian government.
California Rep. Devin Nunes also said during a press gaggle on Capitol Hill that he’s been told by federal officials that “there’s nothing there” regarding allegations that Trump campaign advisers made improper contacts with Russian agents prior to the election.
Trump’s tax returns have received new attention amid the ongoing probes into any links between his advisers and the Russian government.
But Nunes, who served on the Trump transition team, told reporters that a subpoena is not on the table.

“No, we’re not going to do that,” he said.

“No, we’re not going to do that,” House Intel. Committee Chairman on whether they’re planning on subpoenaing Pres. Trump’s tax returns. pic.twitter.com/8pdn3DNEXd

— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 27, 2017

Nunes was also asked various questions about investigations into Trump-Russia ties, including his committee’s probe into Trump advisers’ possible contacts with Russian government officials and of former national security advisor Michael Flynn’s intercepted phone calls with Russia’s ambassador in December.

“What I’ve been told, by many folks, is that there’s nothing there,” Nunes said regarding the Trump advisers’ alleged contacts with Russia.

In a Feb. 14 story, The New York Times 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.” (RELATED: White House: FBI Officials Told White House Chief Of Staff That Trump-Russia Reports Were ‘BS’)
Nunes avoided specifying how he could be certain that “there’s nothing there” regarding the allegations that Trump’s ex-advisers talked to Russian officials.

He said that “the scoping” of his investigation has been completed and that the committee will soon “move into actually receiving the evidence.”

“But as of right now, of the initial inquiries I’ve made to the appropriate agencies, I don’t have any evidence,” he said.
“As of right now, I don’t have any evidence of any phone calls. It doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist, but I don’t have that.”
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.

Nunes’ committee is also investigating leaks of information about phone calls that Flynn had in December with Russia’s ambassador, Sergey Kislyak.

Flynn was forced to resign as national security adviser earlier this month after he misled Vice President Mike Pence about the phone calls. Flynn reportedly denied that he discussed sanctions with Kislyak, but leaked transcripts of the phone calls reportedly show that sanctions were discussed.
Nunes said that he has been briefed on what’s in the transcripts and that he expects to be able to find out who in the Obama administration leaked the information.

He said that the identity of the leaker or leakers is “a very good question” that should be relatively easy to figure out.
“Who went to who to get Flynn’s name unmasked. That should be a relatively small number of people,” Nunes said, later adding that the leaker must have been “someone very high up” in the Obama administration.
“They have questions to answer” about what laws were used to unmask Flynn’s name, Nunes said of the leaker.

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