House Intelligence Committee Clash Over Nunes Clouds Future of Probe

Chairman’s apology to Democrats for consulting White House first on intercepts fails to quell calls to replace him.

A rift between Democrats and Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee is casting doubt on the future of the politically sensitive congressional probe into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election, with Democrats pressuring congressional leadership to replace Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R., Calif.).

Mr. Nunes apologized to Democrats at a meeting on Thursday for not consulting with them before his surprise announcement a day earlier that U.S. intelligence agencies had intercepted information about people involved in the Trump transition team, lawmakers who attended the meeting said.

But the apology did little to stem the complaints, mostly from Democrats, about the direction of the Intelligence committee, which is charged with administering a politically sensitive probe of whether Russia may have interfered in the 2016 presidential election to boost Republican Donald Trump over Democrat Hillary Clinton. An assessment by the nation’s intelligence agencies earlier this year concluded that the Kremlin intervened to boost Mr. Trump—a charge that both the president and the Russian government deny.

Democrats, along with some Republicans, have sought creation of an independent commission or a special committee within Congress to investigate the matter. Republican congressional leaders in both the House and the Senate have said that they want the two intelligence committees to be the primary investigative bodies, citing their familiarity with classified information and extensive staff resources.

Republican leadership in the House has stood by Mr. Nunes and the integrity of the probe’s work. A spokeswoman for House Speaker Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) said the speaker “has full confidence” in Mr. Nunes and that the panel is “conducting a thorough, fair, and credible investigation.”

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