Key US Democrat cites 'profound doubt' about Intelligence panel Trump probe

"So once we have more to understand what he said, to the extent that we can, I'm sure we'll be glad to share it with you, but the media has more information than we do at this point, Spicer added". Schiff also said he understood that most of the names in the intercepts were properly "masked", and that Nunes was complaining because the context of the material made it easy to deduce the identities of the people under discussion.

Because of those conclusions from Nunes and Schiff, McCain called for a special committee to take over the investigation because Congress no longer has the "credibility to handle this alone".

"We're not there yet", conservative House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) said Wednesday, "but we're very optimistic that if we work around the clock between now and noon tomorrow that we're going to be able to find some common ground".

"The committee has still not received the intercepts", Schiff continued, "or other information that the chairman was referring to, and therefore it is really impossible for us to evaluate the merits of what the chairman has said". A second hearing, scheduled for March 28, is set to include Obama-era appointees, and Nunes' disclosure gives Republicans who make up the majority on the committee a new weapon against them.

But Wednesday, Schiff said he was caught off guard, and expressed alarm that Nunes briefed the speaker and Trump before contacting any other committee members.

"I was shocked that he did it, startled, befuddled", Bradley Moss, a national security expert and attorney told LawNewz.com. "But I somewhat do". The system was created after multiple revelations of abuses of power at home and overseas by agencies like the CIA - foreign assassinations and domestic spying on political opponents caused 1970s scandals that led to the creation of intelligence committees in the Senate and House of Representatives.

He added that "it's possible" that Trump's personal communications were captured that way by the US intelligence community.

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The all-Tar Heel NBA team wouldn't be complete without Vince Carter coming off the bench to throw down some highlight-reel dunks. Devonte' Graham added 18 points and Landen Lucas had 10 for the Jayhawks, who shot 53.1 percent (34 of 64) in the win.

It remains unclear whether the House will go through with its plan to hold a floor vote on the Republican health-care bill Thursday.

Nunes defended rushing to brief the President because the reports he read have nothing to do with Russia, but he said the investigation he is conducting into Russian interference in the election would look at how Trump's name got into the intelligence reports. Representative Conaway asked Comey and Rogers to explain why their analysts believed that Russia's President Vladimir Putin wanted to "denigrate" former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.

Nunes himself was a member of the Trump transition team, and now even some Republicans are calling for a special congressional committee to lead the investigation. Schiff said. "The chairman needs to think about which role he wants to play here".

The startling twists occurred two days after FBI Director James Comey told the House committee the bureau and the Justice Department found no evidence to support Trump's March 4 tweets accusing President Obama of "wiretapping" him at Trump Tower a year ago.

He added that Trump officials' names were attached to the collected intelligence data, which could be a violation of law. Nunes was too mad, the source said.

But whip lists suggested that more than two dozen GOP House members - including a few from Texas - refused to lend support.