"This is almost like McCarthyism revisited… We’re going to go on a witch hunt against, against innocent Americans," Nunes said at the California Republican Party spring convention, as quoted by Politico on Sunday.
The lawmaker went on to stress that it was unacceptable to target US citizens over allegations made in news stories, adding that the intelligence committee would itself consider any evidence on the matter if it existed.
"But at this point… We can't go on a witch hunt against the American people, any American people who have not had any contact, just because they appeared in a news story,” Nunes said.
US media has run a plethora of stories about Trump's ties to Russia. The reports featured unbacked intelligence memos and anonymous sources. The claims have been dismissed by Trump as "fake news." The president also slammed outlets for abusing the use of unnamed White House sources. Russia has also dismissed the reports, calling these an effort to distract US citizens from real problems in the country.
