Washington - Arab Today
Post-election communications of US President Donald Trump's team were swept up in an "incidental collection" by intelligence agencies, a Republican lawmaker says.
House intelligence committee chairman Devin Nunes said individuals were named in "widely disseminated" reports, which he said was "totally inappropriate". Nunes said this did not back Trump's claim Barack Obama had ordered Trump Tower wiretapped before the poll.
But when asked if he felt vindicated, Trump said: "I somewhat do." Nunes also insisted the collected information was not linked to an FBI investigation into alleged links between the Trump team and Russian officials during the election campaign, according to the (BBC).
A political row followed Nunes' announcement, with the top Democrat on the committee, Adam Schiff, criticising him for not consulting the committee before going public. "This is not how you conduct an investigation. You don't take information that the committee hasn't seen and present it orally to the press and to the White House before the committee has a chance to vet whether it's even significant," he said.
Source: QNA