Transfer of Trump Surveillance Report 'Looks Nothing Like Whistleblower Case'

US House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes acquisition of reports related to the surveillance of President Donald Trump does not look like the handiwork of a whistleblower, committee ranking member Adam Schiff said in a press conference.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, House Speaker Paul Ryan said that Nunes learned about the surveillance of President Donald Trump's presidential campaign team from a whistleblower source.

“To me this looks nothing like a whistleblower case,” Schiff stated on Thursday.

The New York Times reported on Thursday that Nunes acquired the reports from staff in the White House National Security Council.

On March 22, Nunes told reporters that the information about Trump team was "incidentally collected" during the transition period. Following the announcement, the intelligence committee chair visited the White House and briefed the US president on the findings. Later, Nunes explained why he decided to brief the press and US President Donald Trump on new intelligence information before telling the ranking Democrat on the committee.

These actions triggered immediate criticism of the panel's members, who have not been notified in advance about the additional documents related to Trump's wiretapping claim.

On Tuesday, several prominent Democrats called on congressman Nunes to recuse himself from the probe into alleged Russia's election interference.

On March 4, Trump took to Twitter to accuse Obama of having his Trump Tower headquarters' "wires tapped" prior to the 2016 presidential election, describing this as the former administration's "new low. The president went on to compare the alleged surveillance to McCarthyism and the Watergate scandal. The claims have been rejected by Obama's representative.

The US House and Senate Intelligence Committees have found no credible evidence to support Trump's claims.