Numerous Democrats have called for Rep. Devin Nunes to recuse himself from the Intelligence committee’s Russia-election probes. And now one Republican has joined them.
Rep. Walter Jones, North Carolina Republican, told The Hill that Mr. Nunes should step aside after his Monday acknowledgment of traveling to the White House grounds to see documents purportedly vindicating President Trump’s claims about the Obama administration’s surveillance of his campaign.
“How can you be chairman of a major committee and do all these things behind the scenes and keep your credibility? You can’t keep your credibility!” Mr. Jones told The Hill just off the House floor.
“The integrity of the committee looking into this has been tainted,” continued Mr. Jones, who has frequently clashed with the party leadership on civil liberties and intelligence issues.
Indeed, Mr. Jones already has co-sponsored an otherwise all-Democratic bill to establish an independent commission to probe claims of Russian attempts to influence the U.S. election.
“If anything has shown that we need a commission, this has done it by the way [Mr. Nunes] has acted,” Mr. Jones also told The Hill.
Both Mr. Nunes and House Speaker Paul Ryan have dismissed calls for Mr. Nunes to step aside from the investigation, with the Californian saying such calls are mere “politics.”
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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