Amid turmoil, House Intel Committee scraps meetings this week The House Intelligence Committee has scrapped all meetings this week amid growing partisan rancor now threatening to derail its investigation into Russia and the Trump campaign. The full committee meetings were canceled amid an increasingly tense back-and-forth that intensified over Chairman Devin Nunes' decision to cancel a public hearing set for Tuesday, two sources on the committee told CNN. The controversy widened as Democrats called on Nunes to step aside because of his decision to brief President Donald Trump on intelligence information he received from a source on White House grounds.

Mr. Nunes then defended his decision to bypass Mr. Schiff and go to the White House, saying he felt a “duty” to tell Mr. Trump because of Democrats’ “relentless” political attacks. “If we would have crossed paths in the hall, maybe I would have said something to him,” Mr. Nunes said in an interview. “But what I was trying to do was get to the president as quick as possible.” At that point, Mr. Trump seized on the information, saying he felt “somewhat” vindicated in his wiretapping claim against former President Barack Obama — debunked by the F.B.I. director and the director of the National Security Agency, as well as the heads of the Senate and House investigations, including Mr. Nunes.