Devin Nunes Is at the Center of Trump's Russia Scandal Right Now — but Who Is He?

Representative Devin Nunes, the House Intelligence Committee Chairman, is at the helm of an unconventional investigation into President Donald Trump's team's alleged ties to Russia. Nunes, a GOP Representative from California's 22nd district, has also caught the ire of both Republicans and Democrats for his ostensibly unethical behavior overseeing the committee's inquiry.

On March 22, Nunes appeared to refute FBI Director James Comey's testimony that the president had not been "wiretapped" as Trump had claimed on Twitter. Nunes held a press conference — without informing the other members of the committee he planned to so — and revealed that he was privy to new information which suggested Trump and other members of his transition team may have been "incidentally" surveilled by American spy agencies. By "incidentally," Nunes means that some members of Trump's team may have had some conversations intercepted by nature of who they were speaking to but not as direct targets of investigations.

"I don't want to get too much into the details, but these were intelligence reports, and it brings up a lot of concern about whether things were properly minimized or not," Nunes told reporters on March 22.

Since Nunes's press conference, he's faced considerable backlash across the board; the criticism grew more acute when it was revealed that the Committee Chairman was at the White House for an undisclosed meeting the day before he ostensibly defended the president's allegations. There's a clear issue with Nunes's visit: how can he fairly investigate Trump's potential collusion with Russia if he is seemingly communicating with anyone in the administration?

It's also unclear where Nunes obtained the information that the then-president-elect's communications may have been monitored. He refuses to reveal his source; he also admitted to not possessing a full report but revealed his partial analysis to the press regardless of that fact.

Nunes seems to have recognized at least some wrongdoing. In a closed-door meeting with his Republican and Democratic colleagues on the committee, Nunes apologized for how he handled the supposed new information he discovered. Specifically, Nunes reportedly expressed regret for going to the press, then the White House to confirm his findings, then the press again before briefing his colleagues, according to Democratic Representative Jackie Speier, who spoke to The Washington Post.

Whether or not Nunes was operating at Trump's behest has been widely speculated on but unconfirmed — though it's quite apparent that the chairman "has a lot of explaining to do," in the words of his Republican colleague John McCain.