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Spicer: Nunes Visit Was ‘Routine and Proper’

Deflected concerns about the White House’s handling of Nunes ordeal.

During Friday afternoon’s press conference, Sean Spicer insisted that administration officials reportedly giving intelligence information to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) during a visit to White House grounds was “both routine and proper.” According to Spicer, there is no scandal in White House officials leaking information to the congressman for him to eventually brief the president on, rather than feeding it directly to the president. Nunes has taken criticism from Democrats on the panel, as well as several Republican lawmakers, for his handling of the information—including the fact that he did not brief his committee colleagues on the materials he claimed as proof that President Trump’s transition team was “incidentally surveilled” last year. Spicer reiterated on Friday to the press corps that “the substance, unmasking, and leaks is what we should be worried about,” deflecting from the Trump camp’s controversy to the Obama administration.