NUNES: 'We're going to do an investigation with or without' cooperation from the Democrats
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The House Intelligence chair, Rep. Devin Nunes, told reporters Wednesday that his committee would continue its investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election "with or without" cooperation from its Democratic members.
Nunes, a California Republican, made the comments after numerous top Democrats — including Rep. Adam Schiff, the committee’s ranking member, as well as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi — called for Nunes to recuse himself from the investigation.
The calls came after Nunes met with a source on White House grounds to discuss intelligence that he later disseminated to the press and the president before briefing other committee members. He said the intelligence was not related to his committee's investigation.
He said the evidence showed that the intelligence community had incidentally collected information on President Donald Trump's transition team, and possibly Trump himself, during the postelection transition period. That collection, he added, was not related to Russia.
But Democrats and some Republicans were dismayed by Nunes' actions, saying that by going to the White House grounds he delegitimized the nonpartisan investigation he was tasked with leading.
Nunes took questions Wednesday after Rep. Walter Jones of North Carolina became the first Republican lawmaker to ask for the chairman, who was a member of Trump's transition team, to recuse himself from the investigation.
House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday said he would not ask for Nunes to recuse himself, and Nunes said the calls for recusal or removal from the committee were "politics."
Nunes on Wednesday said, "We're beginning to figure out who's actually serious about the investigation."
"Because it appears like the Democrats aren't really serious about this investigation," he said.
He added: "I mean, we always want to keep the committee bipartisan. But at the end of the day, we're going to do an investigation with or without them, and if they want to participate, that's fine, but the facts of the matter are pretty clear."
Regarding that participation, Nunes said Democrats on the committee did not provide a witness list of whom they wanted to call to testify. He also said Democrats didn't sign a letter to FBI Director James Comey, whom Nunes asked to return before the committee to testify again.
Democratic committee aides told Business Insider that both claims from Nunes were inaccurate. One aide said Democrats provided a tentative list of witnesses to Republicans on Tuesday. Additionally, the aide said, Democrats offered to schedule both a closed hearing and an open hearing next week but had yet to hear back.
"This is the first any of us have heard of these claims," another committee aide said.
A representative for Rep. Mike Quigley, a Democrat from Illinois on the committee, seconded the aides, saying "neither of those claims are accurate."
"Democrats are 100% committed to this investigation," Tara Vales, the Quigley representative, told Business Insider. She added that a closed meeting with Comey and NSA Director Mike Rogers and an open hearing with former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan, and former acting Attorney General Sally Yates, "all of whom were ready and willing to testify on Tuesday," she said, were not "mutually exclusive."
"Democrats welcome the opportunity to hear from Comey at any time," she said, "but that cannot take the place of an open hearing."
Jack Langer, Nunes' spokesperson, then disputed the Democratic aides, reiterating that the chairman's earlier assertions were true. Langer said the Republicans on the committee were told this morning that they would be getting a preliminary list from the Democrats, but the GOP members have yet to receive it.
"Both of the chairman’s assertions are true, and we still haven’t received a witness list," Langer told Business Insider.