House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes under pressure to recuse himself from Russia probe

WASHINGTON — Rep. Devin Nunes, besieged by Democrats demanding he recuse himself or step down as leader of the investigation of Russian meddling in last year’s presidential campaign, said Tuesday that his GOP colleagues “are perfectly fine” with him remaining chairman of the House intelligence committee.

“Why would I not?” said Nunes when asked whether he would remain chairman as a scrum of reporters followed him through the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday morning.

Nunes, a California Republican, also defended his decision to postpone Tuesday’s scheduled hearing with former Obama national security officials, saying that, until FBI Director James Comey comes in for a closed session with the committee, it would be “hard to move forward” with other evidence.

The ranking Democrat on the committee, Rep. Adam Schiff of California, said it would be “very difficult” to carry out a credible investigation without the chairman recusing himself in light of confirmed reports that Nunes looked at documents at the White House that he says showed proof that Trump campaign officials were caught up in “incidental” surveillance by intelligence agencies during the transition.

The No. 2 Democrat in the House, Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, said Nunes had forfeited his ability to lead an investigation and called for creation of a special commission.

President Trump has said he feels “somewhat vindicated” by Nunes’ evidence of surveillance. Trump tweeted on March 4 that President Obama had wiretapped Trump Tower, which Comey and others have said is not accurate.

Former National Security Agency director James Clapper, former CIA drector John Brennan and former acting attorney general Sally Yates were scheduled to testify in an open session Tuesday until Nunes announced Friday that the hearing would be postponed.

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Clapper was the first national security official to say Trump’s wiretap allegation had no basis in fact and could have been expected to say so at the hearing. Yates informed White House counsel Don McGahn that former national security adviser Michael Flynn had misled Vice President Pence about his conversations during the transition with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

Yates was fired by Trump after she told U.S. attorneys around the nation not to defend the president’s first travel ban that restricted the entry of residents from seven mostly Muslim nations.

Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., was asked about Nunes at a meeting Tuesday morning after he met with the House Republican conference.

“Should Devin Nunes recuse himself from Russia investigation and do you know the source” of his information, he was asked. Said Ryan: "No and no."