Spicer preemptive comments —>pic.twitter.com/FlkeSXMpjs
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Spicer preemptive comments —>pic.twitter.com/FlkeSXMpjs
Wondering if Spicer will confirm the timing of the letter being sent. (I bet it was sent after the NYT story went live.)
Spicer: "I understand the obsession with the process piece, but we are concerned with the substance."
Spicer mocks reporters' questions by comparing the questions to "who drove in what gate, what were they wearing that day."
"I said we would look into it," Spicer says of how Nunes got into the White House grounds. "I never said we would give you answers."
Spicer says he "will not get into it," when pressed on whether the White House disputes the NYT report. So, the White House won't deny it.
Spicer is asked what he meant when he said info was found "in the ordinary course of business." Spicer said he's not explaining further.
After being asked repeatedly who cleared Nunes to come in, Spicer now says they've decided not to focus on "who came in what time and when."
This is absolutely unacceptable. Spicer just said the White House decided to focus on informing the committee folks, not answering that Q.
The only possible answer is that the White House doesn't like the answer they found to an easily answerable question.
Spicer saying that government officials refusing to name sources is the same thing as reporters having anonymous sources is absurd.
It is a complete misunderstanding of the public nature of government and the public interest of journalism.
If he's telling the truth here, he is intentionally avoiding finding out the answer.https://twitter.com/JDiamond1/status/847518722407456769 …
OK. So, let's take a step back.
Michael Ellis, NYT reports, was one of two people who "helped" Nunes. He was the top lawyer for Nunes' comte until he joined Trump admin.pic.twitter.com/nDnbbgGCM7
Ellis, along with many other White House counsel's office employees, had their hiring announced formally on March 7. Ellis' info:pic.twitter.com/Nu1eXtnPpn
Of course, it was three mornings earlier when Trump tweeted his infamous "wire tapping" tweets.https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/837993273679560704 …
Later March 4, we learned WH Counsel's Office was involved in trying to figure out whether there was a FISA warrant.https://twitter.com/chrisgeidner/status/838140680551673856 …
On March 5, House Judiciary Dems announced they would be asking McGahn to explain what this was about:https://twitter.com/chrisgeidner/status/838536319924068352 …
Here's the final letter sent, signed by all House Judiciary Dems: https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/sites/democrats.judiciary.house.gov/files/documents/House%20Jud%20Dems%20letter%20to%20McGahn.pdf …pic.twitter.com/KOBZ71TDEB
Notably, Rep @ericswalwell is the only Dem on House Judiciary who also is on the House Intelligence Committee.
So, on the day Trump tweeted, it appears counsel's office began trying to track down whether the claim could be verified.
On March 21, Nunes disappeared — http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/03/24/devin-nunes-vanished-the-night-before-he-made-trump-surveillance-claims.html … — to go to the White House grounds: http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/27/politics/devin-nunes-white-house-donald-trump/index.html … ...
... where, according to @maggieNYT, Ellis — from the White House Counsel's Office — showed Nunes the info:https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/847504242478796800 …
Here's a March 27 exchange between Spicer and @MajorCBS: Note how careful Spicer's attribution is.pic.twitter.com/bcy5rG2Sbg
Here's the Bloomberg interview between Nunes and @EliLake that Spicer was referencing in that briefing. https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-03-27/devin-nunes-explains-his-white-house-visit …pic.twitter.com/bSZJXvZuNY
Today — since the NYT report — @EliLake has been notably silent on Twitter this afternoon. Will be interesting to see what he says now.
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