The Republican Party is dealing with a fresh set of headaches over revelations that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) was on White House grounds the night before he publicly revealed purported incidental surveillance of Trump administration officials.
During a CNN panel on Monday, reporter Phil Mattingly outlined why Nunes' antics were disastrous for the GOP's efforts to reassure Americans that they could hold an independent investigation into Russian interference into the 2016 presidential election.
"This is a nightmare for any idea of nonpartisan investigation," he said. "This is a nightmare for House leadership. They obviously don't want to move it to an independent panel, they don't want a special prosecutor."
CNN panelist Nia-Malika Henderson followed up by pointing out that Nunes' actions have backfired on President Donald Trump himself.
"This is also a nightmare for Donald Trump," she said. "Every day we're talking about... whether or not there was collusion between... Trump as a candidate or his aides, and Russian intelligence officials or Russians just in general, that's a bad, bad day for him. I think if Nunes' goal is to undermine the credibility of the House Intelligence Committee, good job in doing that."
Panelist Jackie Kucinich agreed with Henderson, and said Nunes was "making a great case for a special prosecutor."
Watch the whole panel below.
