Tipsheet

Devin Nunes Says Congress Is Investigating Rumors of 'Strange' and 'Irregular' Requests to Monitor Reporters

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) revealed he and other lawmakers have heard rumors accusing former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch of monitoring communications of U.S. citizens, which could have included journalists.

Yovanovitch was serving as the ambassador until she was recalled by the Trump administration this year in May.

Fox News host Sean Hannity asked Nunes, who is the ranking member of the House Intelligence Community, on Wednesday about the claims.

"What I can tell you is that we know what Pete Sessions, congressman from Texas now retired, we know what he had to say. We know that there are people within that were not only Ukrainians but also Americans that worked at the State Department who have raised concerns about this ambassador, that's why she was ultimately removed," Nunes said.

"We also have concerns that possibly they were monitoring press from different journalists and others," he continued. "That we don’t know, but, you know, we have people who have given us this information and we're going to ask these questions to the State Department and hopefully they'll get the answers before she comes in on Friday."

Hannity then said three sources have told him there "is evidence that shows government resources were used to monitor communications" of a journalist, The Hill's John Solomon.

"Well, what I have heard, and I want to be clear. I think there is a difference. What I've heard is that there were strange requests, irregular requests to monitor, not just one journalist, but multiple journalists," Nunes said. "Now perhaps that was okay. Perhaps there was some reason for that, that it can be explained away. But that’s what we know and that’s what we are going to be looking into."