House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes heatedly denounced a decision by the intelligence community to decline to brief members of Congress about its findings concerning Russian meddling in the presidential election.
“It is unacceptable that the Intelligence Community directors would not fulfill the House Intelligence Committee’s request to be briefed tomorrow on the cyber-attacks that occurred during the presidential campaign,” Nunes said in a statement.
Nunes indicated that Congress was deeply interested in the CIA intelligence leaked to the Washington Post claiming Russians hacked Democrats specifically so that Donald Trump would win the election.
“The Committee is deeply concerned that intransigence in sharing intelligence with Congress can enable the manipulation of intelligence for political purposes,” he said.
Nunes wanted a classified briefing from Intelligence Director James Clapper, FBI Director James Comey, and CIA Director John Brennan today, but the briefing was canceled. According to Fox News, the CIA declined to give a briefing, citing the ongoing investigation as ordered by President Barack Obama.
Rep. Peter King also denounced the decision on Fox News.
“Somebody has the time to leak it to the Washington Post and the New York Times, but they don’t have the time to come to Congress,” he said in a Fox News interview on Wednesday. “It’s their job to come. They don’t have any choice. They have to come in, especially when they have created this.”