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Nunes Would Like John Roberts to Discuss FISA Process on Hill

Nunes Would Like John Roberts to Discuss FISA Process on Hill
Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

By    |   Wednesday, 07 February 2018 08:28 PM EST

House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., says he has "thought a lot about" asking Chief Justice John Roberts to come before Congress to talk about the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act process.

In a Wednesday interview with Hugh Hewitt, Nunes said GOP investigators had "grappled" with how to approach the FISA judges about the intel panel's conclusion the FBI misled the secret surveillance court.

Roberts appoints the judges to that court.

"This is something that we have, like I said, we have thought a lot about this," Nunes said. "And the answer is we don't know the correct way to proceed because of the separation of powers issue," he added.

"I'm not aware of any time where a judge has, for lack of a better term, testified before the Congress," Nunes said.

He said the "next step" is to send a letter to courts to make them aware of his findings — but he and his staff are still debating whether to approach the Supreme Court or the surveillance court.

"If, somehow, this case ends up at the Supreme Court, somehow, some way, by sending a letter to Roberts, do you conflict the [Supreme] Court?" Nunes said.

Some congressional Republicans, including Nunes and Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, claim the FBI inappropriately relied on politically biased material to obtain a warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to spy on a former Trump campaign aide, Carter Page.

According to a memo spearheaded by Nunes and declassified by President Donald Trump, the FBI failed to disclose to the court that some of the information in the warrant application was opposition research paid for by Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee.

"You would think you would go to great lengths to say where you got this from," Nunes said Wednesday. "And then it's almost like you had to go out of your way to put the footnote in at the end in order to disguise it so that you've basically said 'oh, no, I did say this,' when the reality is you really didn't, right?"

Nunes appears to concede it would be unlikely for Roberts to consent to any kind of appearance before Congress.

"I'm aware of members of Congress going to the Supreme Court and having coffee with the judges, just to shoot the bull. I'm aware of, you know, dinners where congressmen have been with Supreme Court Justices. But I'm not aware of any time where a judge has, for lack of a better term, testified before the Congress," Nunes said.

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Politics
In an interview with Hugh Hewitt, House Intel Chair Devin Nunes said he has thought about inviting Chief Justice John Roberts to congress to talk about the FISA process, although Nunes doubts Roberts would come.
devin nunes, chief justice, john roberts, congress, fisa court
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2018-28-07
Wednesday, 07 February 2018 08:28 PM
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