House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-California, said Sunday he doesn’t blame President Donald Trump for complaining about leaks from the intelligence community.
“You’re going to see at the highest level of the past administration, at that level, I think, Donald Trump had a lot of problems with, and I don’t blame him for having a lot of problems — there were a lot of leaks,” Nunes told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.”
Nunes said leaks in the last 60 to 90 days before the election occurred were attributable to “the Obama administration directly or the intelligence community.”
Obama’s director of national intelligence, James Clapper, issued a statement saying: “I do not believe the leaks came from within the (intelligence community).”
Nunes comments were made after former CIA Director John Brennan criticized Trump’s Saturday speech at the CIA.
Trump has previously complained about intelligence community leaks, including information about what US intelligence officials briefed both Trump and former President Barack Obama about prior to Trump’s inauguration.
“We don’t know where the leaks came from,” Nunes said.
Tapper replied: “Well, I broke the story, and I can tell you, John Brennan had nothing to do with it.”
“Well, but there were a lot of leaks that came … it goes back for 90 days,” Nunes said.
Nunes said Trump’s visit Saturday to the CIA was intended to “show support” for the agency.
“Donald Trump is a citizen-politician,” Nunes said. “He’s really enjoying what he’s doing. He’s going to take the media on every single day. He’s never been in politics. And I think you’re going to see more of this.”