In the wake of explosive new claims from Congressman Devin Nunes that Donald Trump and aides were surveilled during the presidential transition, the partisan networks on Thursday circled back to focus on the President’s “baseless,” “false,” “fictional” tweets. ABC, CBS and NBC also questioned the credibility of the House chairman who brought the information to the President.
On CBS This Morning, Major Garrett opened his report by reminding, “For weeks, the White House has fiercely defended the fiction that President Obama had Trump Tower wiretapped.” Later, the journalist underlined, “The President was asked if he felt vindicated about his false claim that former President Obama ordered wiretapping of his Trump Tower phones.”
Downplaying the charge that the intelligence agencies shared information about Trump and his aides, Garrett pushed the Democratic agenda: “The House Chairman of the Committee overseeing the investigation into Russian meddling into the 2016 election says he's found something, just not wiretapping.”
On ABC’s Good Morning America, Cecilia Vega followed a similar theme, explaining Trump’s reaction to the news: “The President calling it vindication for his baseless Twitter claims that President Obama wiretapped him.”
Just like Garrett, she did the Democrats a favor: “But even if Trump was inadvertently caught in legal surveillance, that's a far cry from the allegation that his predecessor illegally wiretapped him.”
Later, Jon Karl chided Nunes:
The impact of his actions yesterday of Chairman Nunes' actions yesterday raise questions about whether or not his committee can conduct a bipartisan and impartial investigation about the Russian interference in the election. He ran down to the White House yesterday to brief the President on what he found.
On NBC’s Today, Peter Alexander echoed liberal talking points criticizing Nunes:
This morning, both parties tell NBC News they’re stunned by the head of the House Intelligence Committee making these public statements about an ongoing investigation. They argue it doesn't serve the public interest and undermines confidence in the House Intelligence Committee and frankly, they say, in the entire process of independent congressional oversight.
In a separate interview, Matt Lauer hoped that the Russian investigation will “mortally would” the Trump administration. And of course, none of these networks remembered the New York Times headline from January: “Wiretapped Data Used in Inquiry of Trump Aides.”
A transcript of the CBS segment is below:
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CBS This Morning
3/23/17
7:13am ETCBS GRAPHIC: New Spying Claims: Nunes: Feds May Have Intercepted Trump Team Talks
CHARLIE ROSE: Conversations held by President Trump and associates were foreign intercepted by the intelligence community. Congressman Devin Nunes, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee brought that information to the President and the press before telling his committee. The unusual move caused concern among Democrats. The committee's top Democrat questioned if Nunes was acting as a surrogate for the White House. Major Garrett is at the White House with calls for an independent investigation. Major, good morning.
MAJOR GARRETT: Good morning. For weeks, the White House has fiercely defended the fiction that President Obama had Trump Tower wiretapped. Then, that change to “Well, if it wasn’t wiretapping, it was some nasty bit of surveillance.” Well, now the House Chairman of the Committee overseeing the investigation into Russian meddling into the 2016 election says he's found something, just not wiretapping. House Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, a member of the President's transition team came with new surveillance revelations.
DEVIN NUNES: I briefed the President on concerns that I had.
GARRETT: Nunes told reporters conversations of Trump transition officials, including possibly the President-elect, were recorded between November and January.
NUNES: On numerous occasions, the intelligence community incidentally collected information about U.S. citizens involved in the Trump transition.
GARRETT: The California Republican angered Democrats by briefing Mr. Trump before the full intelligence community.
NUNES: The President needs to know that these reports are out there.
GARRETT: Nunes said an unidentified source showed him about a dozen intercepted communications. None, he said, involved Russia. But Nunes fretted that Mr. Trump's name and others were not redacted as intercepts circulated within the intelligence community.
DONALD TRUMP: Thank you all very much.
GARRETT: The President was asked if he felt vindicated about his false claim that former President Obama ordered wiretapping of his Trump Tower phones.
TRUMP: I very much appreciate the fact that they found what they found. I somewhat do.
REP. ADAM SCHIFF: This is deeply troubling.
GARRETT: Adam Schiff, the top intelligence committee Democrat, questioned Nunes's ability to lead the investigation and insisted there is evidence of collusion between Russia and Trump officials.
SCHIFF: There is more than circumstantial evidence now.
GARRETT: Republican Senator John McCain joined the Democrats' call for an independent committee.
SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN: No longer does the Congress have credibility to handle this alone.
GARRETT: The National Security Agency collected these Trump transition conversations, but Nunes did not ask the agency for explanation or context. Anthony, experts tell us that these conversations, these intercepts, would not have been circulated in the intelligence community if they had been benign.
