CNN: Nunes didn’t read document that prompted Russia investigation

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) declined to read a two-page document containing the evidence used by the Department of Justice (DOJ)and FBI to open a counterintelligence probe into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia even after demanding access to it, CNN reported on Friday. 

Nunes had complained to the Department of Justice that a previous version of the document sent to members of the committee was “heavily” redacted and insufficient for the panel’s investigation into whether the DOJ and FBI acted on political bias in originally launching the Russia probe.

The chairman went so far as to suggest impeachment proceedings against Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray if they did not hand over an unredacted copy of the document. 

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But when Rosenstein relented and allowed Nunes and House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) to view the document behind closed doors at the Justice Department, Nunes did not open the folder containing the document, four sources told CNN.

Nunes has previously acknowledged that he opted not to read the applications for federal surveillance warrants against Carter Page that his committee used to compile a memo alleging bias by the FBI and DOJ in opening the investigation. Nunes relied on Gowdy’s review in that case.

All other members of Nunes’s committee have been given access to the latest document at the DOJ, and roughly a dozen and Gowdy have reportedly read through it so far.