In the latest bizarre twist surrounding the Devin Nunes story involving "mysterious" sources at the White House, who disclosed to the republican chair of the House Intelligence Committee that the NSA had been surveilling Trump and/or members of his team, Nunes said on Tuesday he will not share - even with other members of his panel - the source that gave him the intelligence reports which indicated President Donald Trump and his associates may have been ensnared in incidental intelligence collection.
Asked by a Fox News reporter whether he would inform the other committee members about who gave him the reports he viewed on the White House grounds last week, Nunes said: "We will never reveal those sources and methods."
In other words either Nunes is concerned that the source might be in jeopardy should his ID be revealed to members of his own committee, or the source - as some have suggested - is the White House itself, or there is some even more troubling explanation why the House Intel Chief has taken it on himself to be the sole gatekeeper to the critical information.
In any case, on Monday Nunes told Bloomberg he would make his information available to other members of the committee by the end of the week, so we eagerly look forward to that.
Meanwhile, after numerous Democrats including Chuck Schumer and his colleague at the House Intel Committeee, Adam Schiff, had called on Nunes to recuse himself from the Russian investigation, the first Republican to join the Democrats, emerged when Rep. Walter Jones told The Hill that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes should "absolutely" recuse himself from his panel's investigation into Russia's meddling in last year’s election.
Jones, a member of the House Armed Services Committee who frequently bucks leadership, is the first Republican in Congress to call on Nunes to step aside.
"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," Jones said just off the House floor.
“If anything has shown that we need a commission, this has done it by the way he has acted. That's the only way you can bring integrity to the process. The integrity of the committee looking into this has been tainted."
Jones is the only Republican co-sponsor on a measure from Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) that would establish an independent commission to probe Russian interference in the U.S. election.
Nunez on Tuesday brushed aside calls to recuse himself, asking why he should.