NY Times: 2 White House Officials Were Sources of Intel for Nunes

According to the Times report, Ezra Cohen-Watnick, senior director of intelligence on the National Security Council, and Michael Ellis, a lawyer who used to work for Nunes and now works in the White House Counsel's office, are the sources Nunes used to make his announcement last week.

Nunes, chairman of the House intelligence committee, has so far refused to name his sources, saying only earlier this week that he had been on White House grounds — specifically the Eisenhower Building, where Cohen-Watnick works and home to the NSC — last week to view classified information.

Ellis, who worked for Nunes on the House Intelligence committee and had been recommended by Nunes for his current job, has been named by other outlets as a possible source of Nunes'.

Cohen-Watnick, brought in by former national security adviser Michael Flynn, began reviewing highly classified reports of diplomats whose communications were being monitored by the intelligence community, the Times reported.

Cohen-Watnick started doing that after President Donald Trump tweeted that former President Barack Obama had him wiretapped, the Times reported.

The Times reported that the intercepted communications of the foreign officials was not related to the investigation into Russia, as Nunes has maintained. Nunes' concern in his March 22 announcement was the unmasking of the identities of members of Trump's campaign team by intelligence officials.

Since that announcement and Nunes' admission that he had been on White House grounds, the work of the intel panel has ground to a halt amid bickering between Nunes and committee Democrats, most notably Adam Schiff, who has twice called for the chairman to recuse himself from the Russia probe.

Regular meetings this week were canceled and Nunes canceled public hearings with FBI Director James Comey as well as Sally Yates, former interim head of the Department of Justice, who was fired just weeks into Trump's term as he awaited confirmation of Jeff Sessions.

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