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Ex-Intel Committee counsel: Nunes briefing Trump on investigation is a 'breakdown' in 'oversight process'

Jeremy Bash speaks on MSNBC (Screenshot)
Erin Corbett
March 22, 2017

On Wednesday, House Intelligence head Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) offered some confirmation during a press conference that President Donald Trump and his team were under surveillance between Election Day and Inauguration Day. The president commented that he felt "somewhat" vindicated by Nunes' visit to the White House to discuss the matter.

"I very much appreciated the fact that they found what they found," he said.

However, Jeremy Bash, a former counsel to the House Intelligence Committee and security analyst, told MSNBC host Brian Williams, "I think in the 40 years of the committee's existence, since the post-Watergate era reforms ... I have never heard of a chairman of an oversight committee going to brief the President of the United States about concerns he has about things he's read in intelligence reports.

"The job of the committee is to do oversight of the executive branch," Bash continued, "not to bring them into their investigation or tip them off to things that they might be looking at." Bash added that other members of the committee are likely "horrified" by Nunes' decision to brief the president.

"It's very concerning," Bash said. "This is a true breakdown, Brian, in the entire oversight process."

Watch the full clip below. 

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